Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art launches a winter festival

Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art is back in the news with its inaugural winter festival Dark Mofo, which lit up the city over the weekend.

The visual arts component of the festival includes Kurt Hentschlager's installation Zee, which comes with a warning of its hallucinatory and potentially dangerous effects. People entering the piece must sign a waiver as the work can trigger what the artist decribes as an emergency shutdown of the brain as it struggles to process the aural and visual onslaught. But other works in the program offer more contemplative experiences, such as Ryoji Ikeda's tower of pure white light reaching 15 kilometers into Hobart's night sky.

MONA has transformed Hobart, putting what was once regarded as a sleepy hollow on the global arts and culture map. And the state government is happily piggybacking on the stunning success of the museum - on this occasion by contributing $1 million a year for three years to the winter festival.
Images: Kurt Hentschlager's Zee and Ryoji Ikeda's Spectra [Tasmania], featuring in MONA's winter festival Dark Mojo

Another good news story for Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art

Hobart has been christened a funky cultural hub by travel bible Lonely Planet, which has named the city one of the 10 best in the world to visit in 2013. So why was Hobart the only Australian city to make the list? Lonely Planet's Chris Zeiher said: "The Tasmanian capital's $180 million Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) has proved a beacon for international attention and is largely the reason for the listing in seventh place."
Image: Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart

David Walsh says a $40 million tax bill won't force the closure of his Museum of Old and New Art

The Museum of Old and New Art is back in the news with reports that mathematician turned gambler David Walsh is in the sights of the Australian Tax office. The ATO says Walsh and others in a secret punter's club have been running a A$2.4 billion global banking business and wants taxes due. At last count Walsh faces a tax bill of just under A$40 million, which he disputes.

As the details became public, he was being asked whether this spelled the end of MONA. But Walsh remains upbeat, saying he is confident an agreement can be reached with the ATO and that he is determined to keep MONA running.
Image: David Walsh, founder of Hobart's Museum of Old And New Art