Australia
MONA
An underground temple to sex and death carved into a Hobart cliff by a professional gambler.
The museum descends into a sandstone cliff. There is no natural light. The exhibits include a machine that converts food into human faeces, an Egyptian mummy, and walls of LED panels programmed to respond to your movements. MONA was built by a professional gambler who wanted to create a temple to the things museums usually avoid.
The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart, Tasmania, is Australia's largest privately funded museum, built into a sandstone cliff face on the Derwent River. Founded by professional gambler David Walsh, MONA's collection spans Egyptian sarcophagi, Sidney Nolan paintings, and confrontational contemporary installations including Cloaca Professional — a machine that replicates the human digestive system. The museum is accessed by the MONA ROMA ferry from Hobart, which serves cocktails and sets the tone for what follows. Dark MOFO, the museum's winter festival, fills Hobart with fire installations, nude swims, and performance art that has made Tasmania an unlikely capital of the avant-garde.
Solo
MONA's O device tracks your path and learns your preferences — the museum becomes a personalised solo experience that argues with your taste.
Couple
The ferry, the cocktails, the descent into art that provokes and disturbs — MONA is a date that tests whether you laugh at the same things.
Friends
Dark MOFO in winter, gallery debates over lunch, and the shared disbelief of a museum that includes a working human digestive machine.
- An underground museum carved into a sandstone cliff, funded by a professional gambler's fortune.
- Exhibits range from an Egyptian mummy to a machine that turns food into human waste — confrontation is the point.
- The MONA ROMA ferry from Hobart serves cocktails as it delivers you to the museum's private dock.
- Dark MOFO winter festival fills Hobart with fire, sound installations, and art that pushes every boundary.
Faro — MONA's own restaurant, where the food is as provocative as the art on the walls.
Salamanca Market on Saturday morning — smoked salmon, Bruny Island cheese, and leatherwood honey in the open air.
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