Hobart's MONA reopens after lengthy Coronavirus closure

Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) has reopened to the public, having undergone a revamp of its displays during its lengthy closure.

Closed since March due to COVID-19, the attraction now requires visitors to pre-book their trip and make a deposit against their ticket purchase.

Speaking prior to its Boxing Day reopening, MONA founder and owner David Walsh stated "we are restricted with numbers so we can't have people booking and then not showing up.”

One of the first major attractions in  Tasmania to close due to the Coronavirus crisis, MONA’s  galleries have been rehung during the closure with more child-friendly public art while its more than 400 staff have returned to work.

Among the new installations will be a 7-metre-high bronze sculpture on the museum lawns, which will double as a children's playground.

After nine months of closure, Walsh is hoping that MONA will attract more locals with the attraction welcoming just 30% of its visitors coming from within the state.

Looking to attract more locals Brian Ritchie, MONA's Music Curator sees it as being important to reach out to the local community.

Having booked 280 local bands as free entertainment on the museum’s lawn over the next three months, Ritchie told Guardian Australia "we have always had that egalitarian element – for instance, with Mona Foma (the summer festival of which he is artistic director) we always have a lot of free events, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody knows that or feels like it’s for them.”

Set to mark its 10th anniversary in 2021, MONA has been a significant economic draw for Tasmania.

According to an independent study by Deloitte, in the 2017/18 financial year it contributed $135 million to Tasmania’s gross state product and $165 million to Australia’s GDP.

Images: Hobart's MONA has reopened (top) and Girls Rule by Tom Otterness [2020], a new free and family-friendly public playground outside MONA (below). Credit: Jesse Hunniford/MONA.