MONA to reopen on Boxing Day after nine-month COVID-19 closure

MONA’s existence would have threatened the very people who come to the gallery to commune with everything it offers, writes David Walsh, who has reflected on the past 10 years of the gallery and its reopening.

Jack Evans

@Jackevansreport

4 min read

November 27, 2020 - 7:09PM

Tasmania

Don't miss out on the headlines from Tasmania. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Come, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.

Isaiah 26:20

I’ve been to paradise, but I’ve never been to me.

Charlene.

IMAGINE, if you will, a world not salted with meaning, nor peppered with purpose.

Imagine there’s no consequence for our actions other than those that we mutually cohere, and socially implement (‘no hell below us, above us only sky’).

Imagine our choices being bound only to our beliefs, not tarnished by our fear of repercussions. Imagine, for example, that I built Mona, not out of Catholic guilt nor evolutionarily mediated status-seeking, but in a passionate attempt to entertain, and edify, and enable.

David Walsh. Photo Credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford. Image Courtesy Mona, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

You’d have to have a vivid imagination to imagine that last imagining.

Mona was ceded to its audience out of some perverse longing to remould some tiny segment of my world to my own ends (whatever they may be), to augment my understanding of things I should know but forever doubt (opinions vary – some people really like Vegemite, or Donald Trump, or prayer, but their opinions grace them as nobly as mine ennoble me), and to uphold and expand my social covenant (Mona is a friendship filter – if you like it, there’s an increased chance you’ll like me).

Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, TasmaniaPhoto Credit: Mona/Jesse HunnifordImage courtesy of the artists and Mona, Hobart, Tasmania, AustraliaESCAPE SEPTEMBER 20 2020COVER STORY - Margaret Moore

That social covenant, that changed dramatically with the advent of COVID.

Had Mona stayed open, the very audience that we communed with would have been threatened, with the threat enhanced in non-linear proportion to the size of our community. ‘First’, we might have said, ‘do no harm’.

But our community is harmed. There have been deaths, and some suffering, and loss of opportunity. But there is also resilience, and forbearance, and an enhanced sense of belonging. I wanted to jump in the deep end of our pool of community, and re-open on Christmas Day. ‘No,’ my minders sensibly said, ‘at Christmas people want their families, and their turkeys, and their mythologies.’

Mona creator David Walsh in front of one of Yves Klein's blue period work. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

So, COVID and other uncertainties notwithstanding, Mona will be reopening on Boxing Day. We are still casting our gaze over the horizon and over our history, but we’ll also be looking upward, and forward, and inward.

When we opened, I thought our place was among the seekers-of-the-new – a space program for the creative urge.

Ten years, and three million visitors, and a pandemic, have taught me that our place is with you.

—David Walsh, Mona Owner and Founder, November 2020

Mark Wilsdon, Co-CEO, Mona Nicole Durling, Director. Photograph Eddie Safarik.

MONA SET TO REOPEN ON BOXING DAY

MONA has set Boxing Day as its first full reopening since its closure in mid-March due to COVID-19 concerns.

The Museum of Old and New Art’s semisubterranean galleries, outdoor art and bars and restaurants on Boxing Day reopen for four days a week, Friday to Monday on December 26.

The museum revealed it had undergone a “major revamp” during the closure.

The much awaited reopening promises the return of old favourites and the addition of “hidden gems” that have never been seen at Mona before.

“The rehang comprises around 350 collection highlights (and lowlights),” a statement from Mona read.

Pharos Lawn, Pharos Photo Credit: MONA/Jesse Hunniford Image courtesy of the artist and MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia – MARGARET MOORE

Mona owner and founder David Walsh detailed what punters can expect come Boxing Day.

“We are, of course, aware that we are reopening just before our tenth anniversary, so we’ve dug out some old stuff to commemorate our opening,” he said.

“We are also looking to the future. In this time of crisis, community is more important than ever, and so we are looking inwards while we look outwards.”

A giant sculpture by American artist Tom Otterness, titled ‘Gals Rule’, will double as a children’s playground outside.

Mona owner David Walsh. Picture Remi Chauvin/Mona

The bronze sculpture features two figures with slides for limbs and stands seven metres tall.

A brand new outdoors venue called Dubsy’s, will serve burgers nearby on the lawns and will host to live music every operating day selected by Mona music curator Brian Ritchie and his team.

Inside, Tasmanian musician Ben Salter will be in residence each day writing, and occasionally performing songs, in a gallery designed to feel like an “art-filled lounge room” while another new area will offer pizzas and cocktails.

The Moorilla Wine Bar, The Source, and the Void Bar will be open. Faro, which has been serving lunch and dinner experiments while the rest of the site has been closed, will continue to operate with bookings required.

MONA CEO Mark Wilsdon at the entrance of the closed art museum in Hobart's northern suburbs. MONA was one of Australia's earliest institutions to shut its doors as the COVID-19 crisis hit.

Mark Wilsdon, Mona Co-CEO said the museum had been busy renovation during the nine-month closure.

“With major changes to the art, a daily music program and a playground, not to mention plenty of delicious things to eat and drink, we’re ready to throw open the doors once more,” he said.

“Whether you’re a local who has been to Mona regularly or a first-timer planning a trip, we’re looking forward to having you.”

Visitors must pre-booked ticket site-only or full museum entry tickets.

And while entry will remain free for locals, Tasmanians will be required to pay a deposit, which can be refunded following a visit.

Visitors will also need to download Mona’s app (The O), a digital guide to the museum and grounds — and will need to bring headphones to access additional audio content.