And then there was mona

The Museum of Old and New Art just outside Hobart in Tasmania was amazing, crazily bonkers and stupidly overwhelming. A fitting way to end my trip to Australia.

Mona run catamarans from the harbour in Hobart to the museum and that short trip alone was full of wonder … we sailed past a zinc works, a massive sprawl of rusty buildings, gangways, conveyor belts and chimneys that I could have spent all day looking at! But that’s just me!

The museum is built into a hill. Yes into. There are 99 steps from the dock up to the grounds and the entrance. I’m a bit of a building geek and I spent more time looking at the structures and the art in the grounds than I did in the galleries.

On entering the museum itself the guide suggests going down to the third level then working your way upwards. The first 10 rooms featured an exhibition Oceans of Air by Tomas Saraceno, each room having a different level of darkness. Some rooms were so dark his artworks seemed to provide the only source of light. It was really disconcerting at times and the lack of sense of direction was weird. His artworks were very varied, utilising a wide range of materials, some were fragile, some were in your face. An amazing experience but one that induced sensory overload.

I wondered through tunnels and vast spaces, looking at, but not taking in more and more, pieces of art. Too much for one visit. Which means that I’m just going to have to go back one day!

Thank you again Glenys, Chris and Roz for inviting me to teach, I would have never got to visit Australia otherwise, to meet so many lovely people and to experience so many new things. I owe you big time!!