Mona, Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art, is opening a new exhibition in June titled Namedropping.
Namedropping will display around 200 artworks and objects in Mona’s subterranean galleries. Via a press release, the exhibition will ask “what makes the big names big: Porsche, Picasso or Pompidou?”
Mona adds, “What is the nature of status and why is it useful? Is status all about culture, or is there something deeper?”
The exhibition will explore how status works and highlight how people have always used status signals as a way to choose friends and partners.
Mona owner David Walsh says: “I like David Bowie. If you like Bowie, it’s a pretty good bet you’ll like Mona. That’s why we namedrop. Those with status convey status to those without status (but only if they share tastes).
“If you like [American Pentecostal televangelist] Jimmy Swaggart, you won’t like Mona, so don’t come.”
Namedropping includes artworks and objects from Mona’s collection, many of which have never been on view before, as well as newly commissioned works, and loans from other institutions and private collections.
New show at Mona to explore status
Jane Clark, senior research curator at Mona, adds: “We Mona curators aren’t scientists, but we do understand that status has served useful purposes in human societies over evolutionary time. In fact, competition both for mates and social position may be key to the very origins of human creativity.
“Namedropping will show visitors a good time, with plenty of celebrities, rarities and niche-interest treasures. But there’s more to think about – as always at Mona.
“Like most things we humans do, status-seeking can have dark consequences: inequality and discrimination, for example, and Ponzi schemes, fakery and fast fashion.”
Namedropping opens at the museum on 15 June and runs through 21 April 2025.
Lead image credit: Darren Sylvester, courtesy Monash University Museum of Art
