Museum Of Old And New Art....OMG!!!!

From all that I read and had been told by several locals, I would either hate or love this museum, known just as MONA. One UK tourist I met said she lasted less than half an hour and had to leave. I’m reluctantly leaning towards the “love” camp because at times it felt more like a fun house than a serious museum though I was glad that I had experienced it.

The museum is owned by David Walsh, a millionaire Tasmanian, who describes it as a “subversive adult Disneyland”. He got his millions from gambling at casinos and the race track as he is apparently a math genius. MONA opened in 2011 and Lonely Planet ranked Hobart as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit mainly because of the museum. It is the largest private museum in the Southern Hemisphere. The museum is located on the waterfront and you take a 20 minute ferry ride to get there. The cost of the ferry and admission is $45, free to Tasmanians. At the dock you have to climb 99 steps to the entrance. Once you enter you are directed down 3 levels as the museum is built into the side of a cliff. There are no windows and it is dark except for the lights on the exhibits. They give you a portable audio guide called “O”, which looks like an iPhone, and headphones. It can detect where you are in the museum and will provide a commentary on each exhibit, both from the artist and Mr. Walsh’s viewpoints. No map is provided as they want you to “get lost” and explore freely. I did get lost and may not have seen all the exhibits because it is built like a labyrinth with different wings and ramps. At times I couldn’t even tell which level I was on!

The museum is designed to engage all your senses. After 3 hours of exploration I felt like I had sensory overload and disorientation, maybe a sign of my age! At the last exhibit I had to walk into a dark room alone where a pharaoh laid in a coffin, beside it another coffin with a 3 dimensional image done on a CT scanner which showed what remained of the body inside the shroud. To get to the “art” you had to carefully walk on stepping stones that were surrounded by water. I couldn’t do it! I felt anxious and off balance. I returned to the entrance of the exhibit and the staff person insisted I must see it so she led the way and held my hands to guide me! It was fascinating but at this point I knew it was time to take the ferry back to the city.Read more