New Exhibition and Entry Fee for MoNA

A serious urban myth surrounds 49-year-old David Walsh. The founder of the largest private art museum in the southern hemisphere, Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art, Walsh is a lad with a vision and an art collection worth more than $100 million.

A mathematician, professional gambler, art enthusiast, multi-millionaire and vineyard and brewery owner (under-achiever), 49-year-old Walsh is a University dropout who made his millions differently - by developing a mathematical high-tech probability-crunching model that enabled him and his mates to rort the blackjack system at the local Wrest Point Casino in Hobart. As you do. By a steady flow of gambling-related cash MoNA was funded, the $55 million architecturally-designed, cliff face museum on the banks of the Derwent River.

Since its opening in January this year MoNA had been free to all visitors, however now, due to the unexpectedly high costs of the MoNA set-up and running the museum, non-Tasmanians will be charged an entry fee to ensure the museum can stay open indefinitely. Considering the spectacle that is MoNA, we're pretty sure the $20 entry for interstaters and $10 for concessions won't be slowing the stampeding masses too much.

In other news, a new exhibition will be opening at the ingenious gallery come December 10. Wim Delvoye's Cloaca Professional has been voted the most hated artwork in the venue, despite being the piece that visitors spend the most time with. With this in mind, it is of course only natural for MONA to offer a retrospective revealing more of this Belgian artist's useless, productive art. From his gothic cement truck and hand-carved tyres to Delft-blue adorned gas canisters, tattooed pigskins, Tattoo Tim and more of the hated cloacae, this retrospective is sure to have something to leave even the most experienced art-goers completely perplexed.

See mona.net.au for more information.