Permanent exhibition | MONANISM – Evolving | Curated by David Walsh, Olivier Varenne and Nicole Durling and the MONA team
The permanent collection exhibition continues; however, it keeps changing.
Some of the works currently on display: Gelitin, Locus Focus (2010); Anselm Kiefer, Sternenfall (1999) and Sternenfall/Shevirath ha Kelim (2007); Christian Boltanski, The Life of C. B. (2010); Chris Ofili, The Holy Virgin Mary (1996); Wim Delvoye, Cloaca Professional (2010).
Favourites – love/hate: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Room (2006), Brigita Ozolin’s Kryptos (2008-2010) and Wim Delvoye’s Cloaca Professional (2010).
THE RED QUEEN | Art that shows why art is made | curated by Olivier Varenne, Nicole Durling and the MONA team
Until September 8, 2020
Image via MONA.
The Red Queen is a character from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. She’s a sinister mixture of power and futility: even as she doles out orders willy-nilly, she seems to lock herself in a weird and lonely prison of words:
‘What’s the French for fiddle-de-dee?’
‘Fiddle-de-dee’s not English,’ Alice replied gravely.
‘Who ever said it was?’ said the Red Queen.
Alice thought she saw a way out of the difficulty this time. ‘If you’ll tell me what language “fiddle-de-dee” is, I’ll tell you the French for it!’ she exclaimed triumphantly.
But the Red Queen drew herself up rather stiffly, and said ‘Queens never make bargains.’
From MONA
Continuing our inquiry into the messy machinery of human nature by asking a rather big question: why do humans make art?
Anthropologists have discovered rocks we carved, bones and tools we honoured and marked, and caves we painted thousands of years ago, along with rituals and ceremonies we enacted. If evolution is about unrelenting determination to adapt and survive in order to continue our species, then carrying out tasks that are time and resource wasting seems counterintuitive – unless, of course these skills made us who we are today.
More than 100 pieces including works and objects from the Mona collection: from Neolithic arrowheads to Egyptian scarabs, carvings and funerary art, from gold and silver Bactrian and Indo-Greek coins from ancient Afghanistan to special commissions; loans from the National Gallery of Victoria; The Museum of Everything (the world’s only travelling museum for undiscovered, unintentional and untrained artists from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries); and The Holmes à Court Collection in Perth. Forty-six artists are represented in the exhibition and it includes twelve new comissions.
C’MONA | Until October 6, 2020
As a part of MONA’s ongoing engagement with the Tasmanian community, the Museum of Old and New Art is opening one of its gallery spaces as a community centre. Follow C’MONA on facebook, or go to the MONA website for an update on workshops and events.
Autumn and Winter Hours from end of April to end of September: 10am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays and Christmas day.
Spring and Summer Hours from beginning October to end of April: 10am to 6pm, closed Tuesdays and Christmas day.
Entry fee: $A20/adult, concession $A15; under 18 years and Tasmanians free
Getting to Mona from Hobart: MR1 fast ferry from Waterman’s Dock; or the Mona Roma bus, or bicycle.
See the website: www.mona.net.au for updates or to become a Monad on our MONA Facebook page.