MONA

Not surprisingly it was not a rapid start this morning. The wind blowing the Sydney Hobart fleet apart produced a great drying day so while the washing was happening it was time to do a little shopping. A quick lunch and then it was off to get cultural.

MONA is a private affair. Not just a gallery, but a function centre, accommodation, cafe, vineyard and microbrewery. There is also a tennis court, soundshell for outdoor concerts and a ferry into downtown Hobart. The building is also an artwork in itself.  The overriding theme is bare steel, which has rusted to provide the characteristic colour of the centre. The grounds are landscaped to merge the grass into the hill in which the building nestles.

You enter at the top of the hill and go down a spiral staircase half carved into the native sandstone about three levels into the galleries. The galleries themselves have a complex (and I suspect changing) layout, and the lighting is in general subdued. It lends itself to an explored rather than ordered discovery and even after you think you have been through a level another pass will find more corners to explore.

As the name suggests, the Museum of Old and New Art contains art from man’s earliest times in Greece, Rome and Egypt right up to artworks being produced before your very eyes. Some are to be observed and some interacted with and it isn’t always easy to tell which is which. Some of the art is so utilitarian (eg benches to sit on) it is only when you peruse your guide you realise what you have been sitting on.

There really is no point in me attempting to describe the artwork. The combination of the huge diversity of items on show and my lack of language in this field would serve mainly to mislead. You’ll have to make do with some photos and imagine the environment in which you see them.

Tomorrow it’s back into town, maybe a sail on the Derwent and catch up on some more traditional museums.