Mona, Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art, has announced three new exhibitions from Fiona Hall and AJ King, Robert Andrew, and Jeremy Shaw, opening on 10 June 2022.
“After last year’s museum-wide rehang we agreed we couldn’t fit any more art into the building,” said Jarrod Rawlins, director of curatorial affairs at Mona.
“Turns out that was us lying to ourselves, again.”
“Now the largest private museum in the Southern Hemisphere gives you the largest number of new exhibitions we’ve ever opened at once,” Rawlins added.
“How’s that for tooting our own horn?”
‘Phase Shifting Index’ by Berlin-based Canadian artist Jeremy Shaw is described as ‘part science-fiction documentary, part psychedelic meltdown’. Mona said the video work ‘depicts humans engaged in various forms of group movement’.
‘Exodust – Crying Country’
“We like science and we like art, especially when science-y art is not lifeless or didactic, and instead leaves the viewer with room to speculate,” Rawlins said.
“In creating this work of parafiction, Shaw allows us to embrace uncertainty, imagination and wonder.”
‘Exodust – Crying Country’ is a collaborative exhibition from Fiona Hall and AJ King. Jane Clark, senior research curator at Mona, said the show is “an impassioned call to action”, featuring a scorched timber hut ‘amid a scene of environmental devastation’.
Finally, the ‘Within an utterance’ exhibition by Brisbane-based artist Robert Andrew ‘works on uncovering the language, culture and history buried beneath our feet’, Mona said.
‘Within an utterance’
“The language we use to describe ourselves is fundamental to our personal and cultural identities,” said Emma Pike, senior curator at Mona.
“Robert is an astute listener not only to the nuances of language, but also to those who take on the painstaking task of recovering language lost through the brutal force of colonisation.”
Earlier this year, Mona launched its first-ever brand campaign – a celebration of its worst reviews – despite owner David Walsh‘s contempt for advertising.
The new exhibitions run from 10 June 2022 until 17 October 2022.
Images: Mona
