A mini MONA tour

Mum and I went out to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) for a visit today.

This time I took more pics so I could show those of you who aren't in Tassie.

Above is the very large forecourt. The original owner's home is in the top left of the image, you can see the white chimney. This is the entrance to the museum. From there you go down 3 storeys to start viewing the art and antiquities.

Above is the view to the right. A nice spot for a game of tennis, though it was very cold and blustery today.

Fabulous architecture...

The rooftop gardens were so so pretty. So many colours! The steel fence (shown above) was making a wonderful whistling noise in the wind. Not sure if that was intentional or not. Probably.

Above is the old house mentioned in the first pic, built by the owners, the Alcorso's, in the 60's, designed by famous Australian modernist architect, Sir Roy Grounds, who also designed another house on the site which is in the process of becoming a library.

Below is the stairway down to the jetty. They have ferries coming up from the Hobart waterfront. Mum and I just drove though, as it is only about 10 minutes from Molly's Maison.

As I mentioned last week, for me the best part of the gallery is the architecture. It was designed by Melbourne architect Nonda Katsalidis . It was built into the side of the property and this MASSIVE sandstone wall is an amazing internal feature...

Taken from above, there is a funky bar on the ground floor, with the sandstone as a stunning backdrop.

At the end of the passage is this fabulous artwork, bit.fall by Julius Popp. Water droplets spell out words from common google searches. Quite amazing...

Snake, by Sidney Nolan is about 46 metres long and 9 metres tall. The curved wall was built especially for it.

It was really too dark to take pics inside, especially with my little iTouch doodad, but while we were there a tv crew interviewed the owner David Walsh for the ABC Sunday Arts show I believe. That's him on the bottom right in the red shirt.

One part I would have loved to have shown you, but it was really too dark was a special room that you walk in, only 2 people at a time, to view the coffin and Egyptian mummy of Pausiris, approximately 2000 years old.

When you enter there is a pale pathway of stepping stones set in a shallow but very dark pond of water. At the end of the stones are two, crypt-like shapes. One houses the mummy and the other is a screen that shows a colour scan that in slow motion reveals the inside of the mummy. It is quite eerie, unlike anything I have seen. A unique experience.

Sorry my pics are a bit limited and a bit blurry, but hopefully it might inspire you to plan a visit to Tasmania :)

ps I did ask permission to post these shots.

pps. with all the high temperatures on the mainland, would you believe I am sitting with a mohair rug around me as it thunders and pours outside? It's grey and miserable.

xx