MONA FOMA

Over the past two weeks, I have been able experience an integral part of the Tasmanian cultural experience: the MONA FOMA, also known as Dark Mofo. Dark Mofo is a midwinter festival put on by MONA: the museum of old and new art (the FOMA stands for festival of music and art). It is a celebration of the darkness of winter (today the sun rose at 7:45am and set at 4:45pm), the pagan solstice, as well as music, art, and food. There were some truly fantastic events and displays, and I am very grateful that my visit coincided with this unique festival.

I also took this time to ride the ferry up the Derwent River to visit MONA. This museum is not about looking at pretty pictures - it has been called "controversial" and "subversive". I definitely felt intrigued by much of the art, pleased by some, confused by a lot of it, and troubled by several pieces. On the museum’s website to book ferry tickets, it advertises a luxury option, complete with champagne and a cheese plate. The other option is, I quote, to “sit on sheep.” After reading that, I sincerely hoped there would be actual sheep on the ferry, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Below are some of the highlights from the festival and museum:

The city all lit up for Dark Mofo

Sheep seats on the ferry!

This is Tim.

Art made from wind patterns. This artist also had work with magnetic fields, tides, and vortices.

This is "Cloaca Professional," a machine which eats, digests, and poops much like a human being  

DARK MOFO


Dark Park was the central hub of the festival:

Faces trapped in bottles

An art experience in a room filled with scented fog, music, and constantly changing colored lights

At the Winter Feast

We ate sooooo much food! Here I am happily holding a Gozleme - a turkish flatbread. 

The House of Mirrors was an incredible feat of physics - a labyrinth of mirrors set up so that it was nearly impossible to tell what was a corridor and what was a mirror. Sometimes we could see dozens of reflections of ourselves, and sometimes we could see none. We were warned going in to keep our hands in front of us - to avoid the danger of running into a mirror or another person.

I'm taking this selfie off to my right side, and yet there we are!

How many Cathy's are there?

My absolute favorite display I didn't find until the last hour of the last night - too bad, because I would have visited again and sat for hours. The art was contained in a huge dark warehouse, and consisted of a series of spotlights hanging on long lever arms. The lights swung in unison, then apart, intermittently fading and shining brighter, with an accompaniment of resonant sound, the pattern changing over time. It was easy to get mesmerized by the display, and by the effects it produced in the space and on the people surrounding us.