Everybody, without exception, whom I told that I would go to Hobart, said: you have to go to MONA. Even those who never have been to Tasmania. The museum’s reputation is noteworthy for a place that only opened in 2011.

MONA is the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart. I had never even heard about it. But I have to say it was the best museum experience ever, on many different levels.

First, the setting.

MONA is built into the Tasmanian rock. It sits right on the waterfront of the River Derwent, on the shore of the Berriedale peninsula. You access it through a vineyard and then walk over to what seems to be an unimpressive entrance.

Towards the river and the bay, you see some rusting steel, but cannot help but wonder: where is the museum?

Well, it is built underground, no windows, no natural light exempt in one or two rooms. It is carved into the cliff, the sandstone that makes up Tasmania’s foundation in this area.

You have a better view coming from the water, with the MONA ferry that brings people from Hobart over via the river.

You have to walk down a long, spiraling staircase into the darkness. Below, between massive sandstone walls, with water seeping out clearly, you receive an iPod with the information about the artworks.

None of the pieces exhibited bear a name or artist info whatsoever. It’s all digital. The system recognizes where you are and displays the information.

I was skeptical at first and made little use of it. I only realized after that the system records your trajectory, the art you liked etc, and mails this to you upon request. I wish I had done that, I could have revisited the museum online afterwards again.

The building is a massive labyrinth. You descent into the darkness and work your way up to the light again, following no specific plan or map. So you definitely will get lost in the art. Walls and staircases, rooms and tunnels, dead ends and open halls, nearly cathedrals. All in a twilight darkness, that focusses you on the art.

The art.

I have a bit of trouble with most museums showing contemporary art. I do get it to a certain point, but then often I am just lost and cannot discover the art. So I walk around, look at what I like, discard and forget 95% of the rest and maybe have a little something to think about for the rest of the day.

Same here, the first couple of works I saw didn’t really speak to me, and at that rhythm I can be through such a museum in 45 minutes. Coffee! Shop! Next.

Different experience here. I am still processing the art I saw. I’m not sure I can convey it here, but I’ll try…

There was this rain installation called bit.fall, that translated words into rain in front of the sandstone background. They were taken from the internet, random words, symbolizing the constant flow of information. It was mesmerizing.

There was Queen (A portrait of Madonna), a video installation with 30 Madonna fans that were played the whole Immaculate Collection Greatest Hits album over earphones and were recorded while they sang along – without the music.

It was a great a cappella choir, and funny to watch the states some got into.

For the record: I did actually not stay as long in there as I should have, but 74 minutes would have been to much. Maybe I come back. If it rains tomorrow.

Data.Tron and Data.Matrix were huge displays of random digitalized information, an endless flow of numbers and symbols, program codes and date, whatever it meant, it felt like a glimpse into an even more digitized future.

 

Kryptos on the other side was a silent little maze, a cubus in a cubus in a cubus, dark, with zeros and ones on the walls.

Walking deeper and deeper into the cubus, you find yourself finally in a small room, the entry too small to walk in upright. You straighten yourself, look up, and there you are, looking back at yourself, with those 0011010 1101100 10111 010100 01010011 010101010 011110 1010110 around you that determine your life. I loved it.

I stop here. There was so much more. Suffice to say that it was worth the trip, and the entry fee. It’s a private museum, built and run by Tasmanian millionaire David Walsh. It was free in its first years, but recently the museum is only free for residents of Tasmania. Fair enough.

It was a great experience. Lonely Planet ranked Hobart #7 on its list of cities to visit in 2013, and MONA definitely played a part in that. Go fly south!