Mona, Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art, is expanding to include founder David Walsh‘s “dream library” because “as a kid he had no friends” and is “mad about books”.
The new underground space will house Walsh’s vast library, which is currently located in another building at the unconventional museum in Hobart.
The Mona website says, “Would you be surprised to know that more than art – possibly even more than mathematics and milkshakes – David Walsh is mad about books?
“Our collection reflects David Walsh’s tastes (which are both prolific and eclectic; as a kid he had no friends, so decided to dedicate his small life to reading, in Dewey order, the entirety of the Glenorchy City Library. If you have the choice, we recommend friends instead).”
Walsh’s collection of books include a first edition of Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov, an early edition of On the Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin, and signed editions by J. G. Ballard, and Hunter S. Thompson.
It also includes hand-written documents by Honoré de Balzac, Walt Whitman, Gustave Flaubert, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Guglielmo Marconi, and Alexander Graham Bell.
“Many of these are not on display at the moment as there’s not enough room, but a new, bigger library is on the cards… Watch this space,” says Mona.
“As a kid [Walsh] had no friends”
On how long the library extension could take to complete, Walsh told The Art Newspaper: “We are building art and art takes time. We expect to be teaching trolls and troglodytes their ABCs (Anselm [Kiefer], [Willem] Blaeu, [Julian] Charrière) in two or three years.”
According Pulse Hobart, the expansion is being designed by Melbourne-based Fender Katsalidis Architects, the firm behind the original Mona building.
Walsh’s wife, curator and artist Kirsha Kaechele, teased the expansion in a recent Instagram post. She said Walsh’s “dream library” is “coming along beautifully”.
