MONA

flyingmonk

February 12

MONA, Berriedale, Tasmania

If this image confuses you, don't worry. It's meant to be confusing as MONA itself, a spectacular architectural and artistic effort, a museum cut deep into the ground just outside Hobart, Tasmania.

Water words, MONA, Berriedale, Tasmania

MONA is the brain child of David Shawn, a local dude who became a very successful gambler to the point that him and his syndicate were banned from all casinos. They were able to bet against the house and win constantly. David Shawn, with its long grey hair and non conventionally dress pretends to be in the autism spectrum that confers him an easiness with numbers.

MONA, Berriedale, Tasmania

Autistic or card counting, he was able to make millions winning in all sorts of bets, from cards to horses and at one point in life he had an epiphany that what he did with his life was meaningless and did not make any sense. So he decided to start giving back parts of the winnings back to his own community.

Anselm Kiefer's Falling Stars/ Destruction of the Vessels at MONA, Berriedale, Tasmania

So he came up with the idea of a museum that would collect remarkable works of art. MONA stand for Museum of Old and New Art and as a theme is sex and death. According to his statement It's not the theme he chose but the theme chose him through the work of the contemporary artists obsessed with this two.

Ai Weiwei's White House, MONA, Berriedale, Tasmania

Currently his personal art collection is somewhere north of 3000 works of art. And to expose part of this collection he created this spectacular building underground, two floors dug into rock and filled it by art of all kind. There are no labels for any work but an app that you download that is connected by bluetooth to the rooms displaying the info about the art while you walk in. There are also rooms that are timed and you have to join with the app and be called later when your time comes. But there is no map of the museum and it's your chore to look everywhere and find remarkable art. And it's not obvious at all.

Oliver Beer's Confessional, MONA, Berriedale, Tasmania

Among all works of art it's a lot of "sex and death" and when I visited our obsession with after life was presented through a remarkable Eastern Orthodox icons exhibit. Most of the items were icons from Russia, Crete, Greece, Palestine and Syria. To facilitate the access, there is also a boat that bring visitors from Hobart that sails many times a day, filled up with works of art. Obviously, the museum is losing money in spite of great revenue from tickets but is supported by grants from Tasmania, Hobart and probably David' s own gambling.

Hobart seen from Mount Wellington, Tasmania

I read about MONA but I was not sure that I could fit in my schedule but because I was still in Hobart running around to buy a phone SIM, I said "what the heck, let me go and stay an hour and leave from there to hike in Tasman National Park." But this was a dream. I lost there most of the day immersed in the treasure hunt of finding art and in the art itself so no more hikes in parks that day. So for the afternoon I drove up Mount Wellington (not like Darwin who hiked there when he explored Tasmania) surrounded by throngs of Chinese and Indian tourists, all admiring the city from above.