On the water 2

First posted on March 10, 2013

Cruising to MONA took us north for 30 minutes, under the Tasman Bridge, past working docks, the terraced seating at the finish line of the Hobart regatta and Government House.

                      Regatta finishing line. 

      Cenotaph and Mt Wellington in the background.

                          Government House

But that was quickly followed by the industrial areas of Hobart – a fuel storage depot (no refineries here), zinc smelter, catamaran builders.

                             Zinc smelter

  Catamaran building yard, with smelter in background

Interesting, but this isn’t the part of town where I’d want to be living and hardly an attractive view from the homes on the opposite bank of the river. This industrial/working class part of Hobart is where MONA owner David Walsh grew up and came back to in order to establish his museum/gallery. What he’s done for Tasmanian tourism is a one-man miracle. MONA itself looks wonderful as you approach it by water. You can drive there, of course, but I can’t imagine that approach being so arresting a sight.

Approaching MONA

Leaving MONA - close to sunset

The chug boat –  what a contrast! It stayed closer to the shoreline and because it was going slowly I got a longer, better view of things I, relatively speaking, whizzed by earlier.

                                           Tasman Bridge

 with the remains of the last pylon of its ill-fated predecessor in the foreground

                       Under the Tasman Bridge

The pleasure of the trip was sitting outside at the front of the boat chatting to a young marine scientist who’d been at a series of CSIRO meetings in Hobart. She was from Colorado. When I said I’d sort-of visited there and described my train trip through the canyons of the Colorado River while travelling on the Californian Zephyr she said to me: “I live in one of those canyons.” Wow!!

            Antarctic supply ship “Aurora Australis”

                                 (R) The “chug” boat 

 (L) “SSS Brigitte Bardot”, a small boat from the Sea Shepherd fleet

MONA – Museum of Old and New Art

First posted on February 28, 2013

After the MONA library came MONA itself. The library was on the lowest level, had to go through The Tunnel to get to it. Even that is a “work of art”, a soundscape in the dark. In fact, everything at MONA is “art” …. not necessarily by everyone’s definition though! In the few days since I’ve been home I’ve been asked did I find MONA interesting, challenging, confronting, exciting, amazing. In that there was so much that didn’t do it for me, I’ll settle for “interesting”.

Approaching MONA

Firstly, the building … it’s hewn out of rock and some of the internal walls are soaring sandstone, almost as though you’re in a huge cave. I loved that. Externally, the building is almost literally rusted onto the landscape. The internal layout isn’t straight-forward – you’re supposed to stumble on things at random. You do. You also miss things that way. But I think I covered most of the gallery.

Natural rock walls

The Void Bar

Overhead walkway and glass lift (elevator)

Everyone has heard about so much not being suitable for children. There’s nothing in the exhibition spaces to say “Stop! Children keep out.” Your only clues are in the visitor guide leaflet. But since so much is interspersed throughout the displays, it’s basically not a place for children at all. Although taking a very young child to Cloaca Professional, aka The Poo Machine, might hasten toilet training by giving them a whiff of what they smell like with loaded nappies!! But art? I don’t think so.

The Poo Machine

I definitely didn’t go to the Death Gallery. Only two people at a time could enter the space and the queues were always too long when I passed by. I don’t do queues. I asked an attendant what exactly was in there and he told me: an ancient Egyptian Mummy and a CAT scan of what remained of the body. Well, working in a health library, CAT scans are not exactly news – or art! Besides, there’s always the NLM’s Visible Human Project. I wasn’t confronted by depictions of deformed, maimed, beheaded, castrated bodies. More puzzled by the minds that could produce such works. With graphic films, video games and the rest, sadly such depictions don’t even have the capacity to shock any more. I was shocked though by books whose pages had been gouged out to make a nestling place for bombs. If that’s art, it’s at the obscene end of the spectrum.

Obscenity

Sydney Nolan’s Snake  wall was mammothly impressive. Very reminiscent of Nolan’s Paradise Garden, no longer what it was since the refurbishment (bling-ation) of Hamer Hall in Melbourne. I also spotted three paintings from Nolan’s Leda and the Swan series as I ambled about.

Snake (part thereof)

I enjoyed entering a small maze-like space where, in the centre, there was a small room with a high mirrored ceiling. It was quite disconcerting to look up and see yourself standing on your head!

That's me, top left

Probably the greatest surprise was a piece of ancient Egyptian carving. I only ever think of them as white or cream, or alabaster if you prefer. But there were remnants of colour on this piece and all of a sudden I could imagine the riot of colour that all of these carvings must have been … rather like realising the colour that was bleached from English churches by Puritans.

A promise of riotous colour

More colour – a rainbow of light on the walkway, looking towards the glass lift.

Mea culpa! Confession time. I got into trouble for touching the art! I went into this room, lined with bookshelves, all the shelves filled with white books. That was a bit of a joke for us library folk, thinking of people who want a book, they can’t remember the title or the author …. but they can remember the colour of the cover – and with that scrap of information you’re supposed to find what they want! Anyway, in the middle of this room were some small tables and chairs with paper and white books scattered across them. I swear I thought this was the children’s play space that so many galleries have these days. No, no, no!! Even that was part of the “art”, as I found out when I fanned the pages of one of the books on the table, wondering if there was anything inside. Don’t touch!!! I didn’t feel embarrassed (not too much at least) because I got the feeling all the other people in the room saw too what a joke it was.

“Not” the children’s activity room!!

The grounds outside are extensive, so much so that I didn’t see much of that side of MONA at all. There was a large stage with a band playing. Bean bags scattered about for people to loll about on. Apparently a helicopter landed on the grassed area in front of the stage and disgorged a passenger – so said my colleagues who saw it all while lunching in the restaurant. Having now flown in a helicopter (twice!) all I can say is …. give me the water and ferry every time!

Reserved parking

Stage area

Looking towards The Source restaurant

Inside a wooden tee-pee

Re-entering the building I noticed what I missed on first arriving – the front wall is highly reflective. I didn’t even realise that, at first. Even on my second entry, I just thought how peculiar that the front wall was patterned like cams – but that was because it was reflecting, like a funny mirror at Luna Park, the colours of the tennis court of sorts that is the forecourt.

Street entrance to MONA

One really less than appealing feature, especially to women, is that the loos are uni-sex. That said, you do have to go. And what a surprise, how weird, how long do you stay there – when you sit down, and the sitting is essential, a film is screened on the floor in front of you!!

            Take a seat to see the film in the loo!!

I could go on and on. When people say you could spend much more than a day at MONA, that is 100% correct …. in spite of only one of my library colleagues being with me on the last boat back to Hobart! (Philistines, the rest of them!!) But I’ll finish with my favourite piece – and it was the first thing I looked at properly (having glanced at quite a few works on the way down to the library).

Near the library in its very own small pavilion (the Kiefer Pavilion) is Sherivath ha Kelimby Anselm Kiefer, bookshelves containing books of lead and glass in higgledy piggledy order, and with the floor littered with broken glass. I was lucky enough to have some time there completely on my own. The silence in the space was something else. It was so pure it was like being in a bubble, apart from the rest of the world. If there’d been a seat to sit on I would have stayed there a whole lot longer – or at least until the spell was broken by the arrival of another visitor.

Looking through the glass walkway to the Kiefer Pavilion

             Sherivath ha Kelim by Anselm Kiefer

Perhaps the very biggest surprise of all is that MONA is in Tasmania. You could scarcely pick a less likely place. And the crowds are flocking to it. Rightly so. But it's so spacious there's more than enough room for everybody - except maybe in the food areas at lunchtime!
While you can get to MONA by road, travelling up the Derwent on a boat is absolutely, definitely the way to go!

Leaving MONA

Library Visiting 2

First posted on February 27, 2013

On Sunday, we found the library at MONA to be an altogether different proposition. This started as and largely remains the personal collection of David Walsh. [Interestingly, the article here about David Walsh says he envisages that MONA will provide jobs for about 50 people. Talking to the front of house assistant manager as he took us to the library, he said one of his roles is to supervise the approx 85 front of house staff!]

The librarian, who has a background in Classics and antiquities, has been with David for 13 years. David’s interests started with coins and stamps, the modern art is relatively recent.

Not your usual library wall art work

The library is housed in the Roy Grounds designed Round House – and has already run out of room! David Walsh has a large office off the library but it is bare but for some storage boxes – future library space? Apparently when he uses the library he sits at one of the desks that visitors use. 

MONA library and study area

During the conversion to a library space there were difficulties with the architects. Quelle surprise!! Has there ever been a library construction/expansion/revamp that has not had problems with architects. They assume how a library and librarians work and close their ears to being told that’s not right. Libraries are usually a compromise after fights and are invariably not fit for purpose to some degree. We could write a book! Anyway ….

This is a small collection by most library standards and has a quite special focus. It’s not a lending library but researchers and students are welcome to use the space and the collection. There’s not an unlimited budget but there’s plenty of money to spend on pretty much anything deemed worthwhile – or such was the impression I got.

The collection skipped bar-coding, going straight to RFID tagging. Similarly, the library system will go from a “clunky but it works” bespoke affair that grew out of an Excel spread sheet prior to the time of the current librarian, straight to “something significantly better” (state of the art??) once RDA is bedded in to replace AACRII Once a new management system is set up you can imagine it linking to the O device that provides information to museum visitors. Currently it is loaded with information but not all exhibits are included (or not that I could discover when looking for some times). Since all items are catalogued it would be (should be!) simple to link the O to the catalogue. “Watch this space” perhaps! 

Reference desk and work area

This would be a fascinating place to work, very different to most libraries in terms of relationships with the owner, curators, researchers, and in a financial situation that the vast majority of librarians can only dream about. But physically, there was no natural light … I worked briefly in a tiny library without windows – a horrible experience I’d never want to repeat. I’d go back for another look though. Although small, there was a lot to take in.

Hobart ahoy!

First posted on February 17, 2013

I got back from Canberra with a couple of vague plans but nothing specific on the agenda. Two weeks later, out of the blue, came an email at work from the Victorian Library Technicians group: Who wants to go to Hobart? 

They had organised a weekend trip to do a DIY tour of the Tasmanian State Library complex (including the Allport Museum and Art Gallery, the State Library of Tasmania Reading Room, the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office History Room) with materials supplied by the library, and a behind the scenes visit to the library, with the librarian, at the Museum of Old and New Art.

When I saw MONA on the itinerary, I was sold. I’d wanted to go there since seeing the book about the place that friend Lynne’s son-in-law had been given after he worked on the exhibition/display lighting during construction of the museum/gallery. That was a couple of years ago and I still hadn’t got myself organised to cross Bass Strait. So what better than someone else doing the organising for me? Actually, planning for trips has always been part of the pleasure of anticipation for me. So I’ve been surprised at how lovely, freeing, it has been to say “Yes, I’ll be in that” as the plan has evolved and developed at the hands of others. 

Roll on next Friday …. too late now to do anything but go with the flow of the 7.00am flight that I booked in a moment of insanity!