In the zoo where the Tassie tiger died, a bird and a whale find love
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By Cameron Woodhead
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Hobart, January 21-24
One advantage Hobart has over bigger cities is a wealth of atmospheric locations easily repurposed as temporary art spaces. The property boom and rampant gentrification all but wiped out such opportunities in Sydney and Melbourne, and the loss has been keenly felt.
Perhaps the most memorable venue in the Mona Foma festival’s Hobart leg was the former Beaumaris Zoo, where Second Echo Ensemble united performers with and without disability to create a mysterious and mythic work,
Girls Rule (2020), Tom Otterness Courtesy MONA Hobart, Tasmania; MONA/Jesse Hunniford
One of Australia’s most important contemporary art museums re-opened on Boxing Day after closing its doors for nine months. The Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart (Mona), Tasmania, has been rehung during the pandemic, drawing on the collection of its founder, the gambler and mathematician David Walsh.
In a blog posted 17 March, when Mona closed, Walsh posted online: “I’ll keep everything together as long as I can, and that should be a long time. I’ll delay building projects and maintenance. I’ll stop taking holidays (not having a choice is a potent motive). I hope people care enough to visit when we reopen.”