Our Trip to Australia, Part Three - Museum of Old and New Art
If you’re ever in Tasmania, Australia, and want to visit a most intriguing and inspiring museum, I encourage you to make a stop at the Museum of Old and New Art, MONA - it is among the biggest attractions on the island state.
MONA was founded by art collector, entrepreneur and businessman, David Walsh and opened in January 2011. Thousands of visitors tour the museum every year to see its enormous collection of ancient, modern and contemporary pieces. Alexis, Jude, Truman, Pamela and I loved this museum. In fact, my grandson told David that visiting MONA was “perhaps one of the best three days of [my] life.”
Here are some photos - enjoy.
-
- In order to get to the Museum of Old and New Art, you must take a ferry from Hobart up the River Derwent – about 25-minutes one way. Here is a photo taken from above. (Photo by Rémi Chauvin, courtesy of Museum of Old and New Art)
-
- We saw several statues along Hobart Harbor. This is one of two bronze pieces by longtime resident, Stephen Walker. It is called Bernacchi Tribute (2002).
-
- This is the other called Seals and Penguins (1998). Both art pieces are made of bronze and presented to the city to honor the brave explorers who passed through this Antarctic gateway.
-
- Once we arrived at MONA, we met its founder, David Walsh, and his wife, art curator, artist, and practitioner of sustainable architecture, Kirsha Kaechele. Here we are posing for a quick photo.
-
- We walked up a giant stairway called Mona’s 99 Stairs. The 99 stairs lead to and from the Boltanski Pavilion, and the Mona MR-1 Ferry jetty. (Photo by Rémi Chauvin, courtesy of Museum of Old and New Art)
-
- I took this photo looking up another section of the staircase. In the black dress is Emily Wood from Black Books VIP Travel. She coordinated our entire visit to the museum. The exterior of the museum is clad in concrete and Corten steel panels. Corten steel is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting. They form a stable rust-like appearance after several years of exposure.
-
- Here is a view looking down. If you look closely, you can see Kirsha in the gold dress with her young daughter, Sunday Walsh. The museum is built on a sandstone hillside cascading down and facing Hobart.
-
- This is the Courtyard House designed by Sir Roy Grounds. (Photo by Rémi Chauvin, courtesy of Museum of Old and New Art)
-
- Here is a closer look at the architecture of the structure – everything is a piece of art.
-
- This 1950 building is the Round House, also by Sir Roy Grounds.
-
- The single-story MONA building appears at street level, but most of its interior is underground.
-
- This is one of several installations by artist James Turrell. It is called Amarna and springs to life at dusk when large lights of various shades play against the changing night sky. The hole in the center was created especially for visitors to see the light and spatial relationship in the sky.
-
- Here is the side of the expansive museum. The museum had a lot of new construction in the works. David also announced plans to open a small high-end casino on the museum’s grounds.
-
- Here is a closer look at the concrete waffle facade and Corten steel walls. (Photo by Rémi Chauvin, courtesy Museum of Old and New Art)
-
- Near the entrance to the museum, there is even a well-kept, hard-surface tennis court – David likes tennis.
-
- Jude and Truman loved Chen Zhen’s musical trampoline. Each child was allowed two minutes alone inside the trampoline. Smaller children were accompanied by an adult. Truman was not very happy about the time limit.
-
- Another part of the playground included this climbing pyramid.
-
- On another side of the expansive property was an outdoor grill area.
-
- Here we are in the circular lift, or elevator.
-
- The lift is made of glass and surrounded by a spiral staircase.
-
- This area inside the museum is called The Void, the lowest level of MONA. It includes a 240-million-year-old sandstone wall, a full cocktail bar, and a waterfall artwork called bit.fall by Julius Popp, 2006-2007. Notice the Victorian furniture in this very modern space. The seats allowed for a very participatory and comfortable experience. (Photo by Leigh Carmichael, courtesy Museum of Old and New Art)
-
- I captured this quick photo of Alexis, Jude and Truman walking through The Void.
-
- This is called the Pharos Lawn, which overlooks the river. Music plays all the time for visitors of the Pharos Lawn. (Photo by Jesse Hunniford, courtesy of Museum of Old and New Art)
-
- Here we are at ground level walking toward the lawn – the views were so beautiful.
-
- Here is one visitor taking advantage of the nature – resting on the real grass and under the summer sun. More Corten steel walls surround the lawn.
-
- Here is another outdoor view of the museum. Fender Katsalidis Architects in collaboration with Antarctica Group designed the MONA. Many of the works come from David’s own personal collection. He made this museum a place that not only shocks and intimidates, but also inspires – it was a great visit.
-
- MONA has roof sections that are removable to lift bulky artworks into the building gallery.
-
- Truman loved this installation – Spazio Elastico or Elastic Space by Gianni Colombo, 1967-1968. Strings fill the room from top to bottom. I took this photo with the flash…
-
- …And this photo without. Truman is still there.
-
- This is in the museum’s restaurant, Faro, the Spanish word for ‘lighthouse’, which is the English word for ‘pharos’, which is the Greek name of this wing of the museum.
-
- This sphere is called Unseen Seen, 2017, also by James Turrell. (Photo by Jesse Hunniford, courtesy Museum of Old and New Art)
-
- The sphere sits in the middle of the restaurant with tables all around. It is quite large.
-
- Here are the children sitting across from me at one of the tables. They’re actually several feet from the sphere.
-
- Aside from the restaurant, there is also a bar – all spread across the complex and supplied by MONA’s in-house brewery and vineyard.
-
- This is a black margarita. The blackness of the cocktail is made with the addition of charcoal powder. The glass is also rimmed with black salt. It was quite delicious.
-
- We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Faro and had more tempura bay bugs. This salad also has seaweed and other greens.
-
- At the end of our visit, the children lined up again for another two minutes each inside the trampoline – this was where the children could use up some of their energy. Jude and Truman loved it.
-
- More than 1.28 million people have visited this museum since it opened in 2011. If you plan to visit Tasmania, put this on your list of things to do – you’ll love it.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
