MONA, Hobart

Today, being Monday - we decided to have a lazy day and there was no rush to get going. Planned to drive up to Mt Wellington after coffee, the cloud was low and there were some showers. So flagged that for a bit of sightseeing locally.
But by 3:00 the weather was still bleak, and we are home, and I have time to do Penguins.
So, MONA – what can I say – it was incredible, lots of wow, inclusive, immersive, provocative, erotic, a place to explore, and fun.
We chose to take the catamaran up the Derwent. There were lots of young people on board and tourists from the cruise that was in port. We left at 10:30 and drinks were going down. On arrival we had to walk up 99 steps to the top and entrance, where outside there was a large enclosed trampoline, a full-sized tennis court and a very large concrete mixer truck made out of lattice steel.
Past the check in we went down a series of stairs – 3 stories below the ground and arrived at the café/bar. Moving straight on through we came to a large open room with (I think) 4,000 paper prints around the wall (see image) and at one end a grand piano, with a person playing notes and room for a small orchestra – a notice read that he was writing a piece that they would play at 4:00 (but we had to leave at 3). We saw him many times play short pieces.
Next to that was the vagina wall (see photo) – plaster castes of private parts. The room had a particular name that I can’t write for mixed company. We moved away from that, and I spied a red car and wandered over there – and after about 5 minutes I couldn’t find Robyn, I went back to a curtained area where a woman was standing like an usher and went to go in, and she said “this is for women only” – so I knew where Robyn was. Later Robyn said it was full of art and pieces that were lovely.
So that was the start of things that happened all day – surprises and the unexpected.
The whole of the museum is hewn out of rock – think about the sheer size!! The walls and corridors had these beautiful yellow and red shade to the vertical walls.
Some highlights:
• The counting rice table where you could sit with headphones on and count white and black grains of rice and a monotone sound in your ears. A chance be in the moment. There were people doing this!!
• The wall of wet words – this was very cool – a two storied flat wall with a water device that ran the width – probably 8 to 10 metres – and in a rhythmic routine it would create words in water drips (see image)
• Old masters and historical artifacts (Egyptian) – Picaso ceramics
• Some erotic artworks – one piece “the arse end of the world” by Juan Davila – this was horrific.
• A big blob that we can’t remember the name of - which had peep holes and there was stuff whizzing about – I think AI images (see photo)
• Huge Chinese building, a lot of political art and video, anti-religious works too
We had coffee twice and sat in some very posh chairs amongst art works. We had lunch outside where a live band was playing on a huge concert stage. Some showers passed over us, but we had our raincoats.
Initially I didn't think I would be allowed to take my camera inside, but I was, but the light was generally low (it is a gallery) and some images were difficult to get right.
We left on the 3 o’clock departure and cruised down the river to the Hobart docks.
Everyone says this is a fantastic place and it is, we both thoroughly enjoyed our visit and the outing.Read more