Mona reveals quirky new art exhibitions for summer season

Mona has kicked off its “Weekend at Walshie’s” party welcoming tourists back to the state with a typically quirky new exhibition featuring two large insect-like steel digging machines.

TWO giant insect-like contraptions are the latest head-scratching curiosities to grace the MONA museum.

The new exhibition is part of the “Weekend at Walshie’s”, two days of partying to celebrate the return of mainlanders to the museum.

Director of curatorial affairs Jarrod Rawlins said the new exhibit, Prototypes of Speculative Engineering, was a collaboration years in the making.

Mr Rawlins said the exhibition was a daring one, both as a piece of artwork as well as a feat of engineering.

“What interests us, and many artists, is the idea of risk-taking, the possibility of failure, experimentation,” Mr Rawlins said.

“That’s very much a value that David likes to see with artists: experimenting, learning by doing, and that’s what you see here.”

The two mobile sculptures, Hydra Step and Hydra Shuffle, move around on powerful hydraulic legs made of industrial coated steel.

Jarrod Rawlins with the works from Mona’s latest exhibition Prototypes of Speculative Engineering. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Their creator, James Capper, said they were intended to evoke the moment of evolution when life moved from water to land.

Mr Capper said the digging machines were meant to provoke thoughts of humanity’s use of extractive practices as well as the crossover between the biological and the mechanical.

“These works are inspired by moments of significant change in the evolution of living things,” Mr Capper said.

“Using the language of sculpture, they allow me to push the boundaries of what is possible, to come up with new and different ideas, and understand how much more there is yet to discover.”

The summer exhibition opened to the public on Friday and will remain on display until May 9.

It was meant to coincide with the opening of another exhibition, Jean-Luc Moulene and Teams, but that has been postponed to 2022 due to shipping delays.

In addition to the new exhibition, the museum has reopened artworks by Oliver Beer, Randy Polumbo and Chen Zhen for the summer period.

From December 30, the museum will be extending its opening hours to five days a week, Thursdays to Mondays from 10am to 6pm.

All visitors over the age of 12 are required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and provide proof of their vaccination status when visiting, as per Tasmanian Public Health guidelines.