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<\/p>\nLo Lo<\/p>\n
What do our bookshelves say about us? Which of our books do we choose to display and why? And what happens to a private collection when it becomes a public exhibit?<\/p>\n
Mona founder<\/a>\u00a0David Walsh\u2019s\u00a0new private library<\/a>\u00a0at the Hobart gallery raises all of these questions and more. A lifelong avid reader who spent much of his childhood reading his way through the public library in the Tasmanian suburb of Glenorchy, Walsh possesses around 50,000 books. He is sharing 30,000 of them at the Phrontisterion in Mona\u2019s astonishing new wing.<\/p>\n The library\u2019s name is taken from a Greek word meaning \u201cschool\u201d, or place of thinking and learning. It also refers to the \u201cthinkery\u201d, in Aristophanes\u2019 comic play,\u00a0The Clouds<\/a>, where a lampooned version of Socrates teaches uneducated down-and-outs how to escape their debts with the power of argument.<\/p>\n This jab at intellectual snobbery is a clear allusion to Mona, which is still\u00a0largely funded<\/a>\u00a0by Walsh\u2019s gambling activities, and to Walsh, who\u00a0revels in his status <\/a>\u00a0as \u201ca wastrel\/ bum-in-chief\u201d.<\/p>\n A decade in the planning, the wing housing the Phrontisterion involved a complex, lengthy construction, which, with typical Mona extravagance, blew the budget from A$11 million to\u00a0more than $100 million<\/a>. It incorporates artworks such as Anselm Kiefer\u2019s inverted concrete amphitheatre, Elektra, Joshua Yeldham\u2019s Surrender Room, a moving temple to his family\u2019s journey with assisted fertility and Matthew Barney\u2019s monumental sculpture Rouge Battery, all interconnected by a series of sandstone tunnels.<\/p>\n The library is tucked into the negative space left beneath the amphitheatre. Entry is included in the Mona ticket price and access gained through the tunnels and a maze of galleries currently housing Julian Charri\u00e8re\u2019s mysterious and disorientating\u00a0Hardcore exhibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a stunning venue furnished with luxurious seating, an incredible\u00a0iron spiral staircase<\/a>\u00a0and huge lights suspended from the ceiling like black clouds. Spread over two floors, the collection is premised on classical education with a classic Mona twist. Expect to find books on sex, gambling, death, science fiction, contemporary art and popular culture as well as science, classical civilisations, geography, design, history, mathematics, wine-making, architecture, theology, philosophy, astronomy and a selection of literature.<\/p>\n A primarily rational, distinctly masculine curiosity is at play here, as it is throughout Mona. A search within my own fields of study predictably confirms that feminist thought and psychoanalytic theory are thin on the ground.<\/p>\n Archaic books about sex and female sexuality from the 1970s, including\u00a0The Hite Report<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The Joy of Sex<\/a>, sit next to volumes of fetish photography and erotic art by men. I find Kate Millett\u2019s\u00a0Sexual Politics<\/a>, and Camille Paglia\u2019s\u00a0Sexual Personae<\/a>\u00a0and I seem to remember spotting Germaine Greer somewhere, but there\u2019s nothing contemporary or cutting edge on display in the realm of feminism.<\/p>\n Nearly all the music books are by male writers about male performers. Notable exceptions are my former colleague, Sylvie Simmons\u2019\u00a0biography of Leonard Cohen<\/a>\u00a0and Jude Rogers\u2019\u00a0The Sound of Being Human<\/a>, but that\u2019s about it. Even Patti Smith is absent.<\/p>\n Among the rare editions, the theme continues. Unsurprisingly Vladimir Nabokov\u2019s controversial\u00a0Lolita<\/a>\u00a0is here, along with pioneering scientist Isaac Newton\u2019s treatise on light\u00a0Opticks<\/a>, one of Pablo Picasso\u2019 sketchbooks, an early copy of Charles Darwin\u2019s\u00a0Origin of Species<\/a>\u00a0and signed books by authors such as Umberto Eco, Hunter S. Thompson and J.G. Ballard.<\/p>\n There are also handwritten manuscripts from writers Walt Whitman, Gustave Flaubert and Honor\u00e9 de Balzac, scientists\u00a0Albert Einstein<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Guglielmo Marconi<\/a>\u00a0and inventor\u00a0Alexander Graham Bell<\/a>. I don\u2019t spot any by women.<\/p>\n Given the more puerile elements of Mona\u2019s history (vagina chocolate<\/a>\u00a0anyone?), this bias is probably to be expected. The library is billed as a showcase for the personal taste of a white, ageing Australian male collector, so the tone is bound to be a little pedestrian. If you\u2019re looking for more challenging and contemporary material, musician and book club host Dua Lipa\u2019s tiny\u00a0new Manifesto Library<\/a>\u00a0in Portugal fits the bill.<\/p>\n Still, the richness of the Phrontisterion\u2019s vast and impressive array is undeniable.<\/p>\n Art books from the likes of\u00a0Ai Weiwei<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Frances Upritchard<\/a>\u00a0rub spines with Celtic mythology and forays into neuroscience. An appreciation of Shakespeare by actress Judi Dench nestles between books on astronomy and Chinese rock’n’roll. A shrine to David Bowie features the artist\u2019s original, handwritten lyrics to his 1972 song, Starman, a gold disc of the 1974 album David Live and some of Bowie\u2019s personal literary favourites.<\/p>\n There are precious books from Walsh\u2019s childhood including\u00a0Robinson Crusoe<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The December Boys<\/a>\u00a0and a few that belonged to his beloved late brother,\u00a0Tim, a poet<\/a>, who was, according to the collector, better read than he was. There are bound volumes of science journals. And there\u2019s a Map Room full of rare cartographic treasures exhibited in display drawers.<\/p>\n The most valuable item is a Shakespeare First Folio from 1623. One of 235 remaining copies from the original print run of 750, the Folio is among the most precious books in the world.<\/p>\n This Folio connects me to home. I grew up near the playwright\u2019s birthplace in Stratford-on-Avon, where I once took a school trip to see Helen Mirren and Michael Gambon star in\u00a0Antony and Cleopatra<\/a>. My last editing job in London was near\u00a0The Globe<\/a>\u00a0where I\u2019d buy cheap standing tickets with friends on summer evenings.<\/p>\n Here in Tasmania, the Folio appears like an oddly displaced prize, but thanks to the library\u2019s digital reading system, The Dial, it is now one of 60 fragile items on offer to readers. Devised by the experience design agency\u00a0Art Processors<\/a>, who created Mona\u2019s app The O, The Dial boasts sleek, wooden desks with weighted brass handles that turn the pages of beautifully enlarged online reproductions in real time. An immersive and fascinating experience that feels authentic and inclusive, it brings me closer to antiquities than my British Library card ever did.<\/p>\n The O itself has also been upgraded to include an innovative catalogue system that rejects the restrictive and archaic\u00a0Dewey structure<\/a>\u00a0governing most libraries. Dewey uses numbers to divide the world\u2019s knowledge into fixed divisions and subdivisions, which some say echo\u00a0colonial and patriarchal perspectives<\/a>. By contrast, The O generates a more relational, open-ended connection between books and ideas that refutes the tyranny of shelf position.<\/p>\n Visitors can search The O\u2019s digital catalogue for titles and find directions to each book\u2019s location. But while they are free to shuffle books around, titles won\u2019t be found again by The O until a librarian refreshes the app by uploading new photographs of the shelves. One of them is busy doing this during my visit.<\/p>\n A set of 20 special \u201creturn shelves\u201d features overhead technology that picks out associations between books, suggesting related titles on the basis of subject matter with rays of roving, coloured lights. Although the results are restricted to what\u2019s included within the illuminated selection, I trial the system with\u00a0The Scientific Study of Mummies<\/a>, hoping to find more about sacred burial practices. Instead, I\u2019m supplied with a list of books about computers in a mismatch that brings to mind social media algorithms.<\/p>\n I quiz a friendly team of female librarians who confirm that flaws are live and discover-able in this constantly evolving environment. They bemoan the lack of women writers in the collection, promise more seating is on the way and urge me to send in my feedback.<\/p>\n But nobody can point me to a quiet, dedicated study space.<\/p>\n For all its hi-tech ingenuity and dazzling collection, the Phrontisterion seems a little confused. Is it a library, a museum, or a gallery? It doesn\u2019t seem sure.<\/p>\n The books are not for borrowing, which is understandable, but while readers and researchers are invited to linger (an aim is for it to be \u201ca working research space\u201d) there are no devoted study rooms and only four desks. These are sleek and well crafted, with lamps and power points, but when I attempt to settle at one of them, a group of excited visitors crowd around The Dial desk to my left. Their chatter makes it impossible to concentrate.<\/p>\n I try the glamorous lounge downstairs, but five friends have occupied all the luxurious chairs and are busy planning their Hobart trip. When I leave the heavy mummies book with my designer glasses case (courtesy of Specsavers) on a side table to go and have a browse, one woman mistakes my arrangement for an art piece!<\/p>\n Libraries should be lively, comfortable and welcoming, but the absence of a quiet, calm reading area is a serious omission \u2013 especially given this one is named after a Greek place of learning.<\/p>\n Free from the governance that comes with public funding, Mona promises to encourage freedom of thought. But while the Phrontisterion is a generous and beautiful development, some might see the practical limitations as a playful millionaire\u2019s oversight. It wouldn\u2019t be the first time\u00a0Mona was wrong-footed by<\/a>\u00a0its own facetiousness.<\/p>\n But as Mona\u2019s librarians point out, it\u2019s still early days, and there are other ways to maximise the library\u2019s potential. A residency program perhaps, or a pioneering and provocative reader\u2019s festival? Maybe a cool book club (that\u00a0doesn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0revolve around sex and death?), or a literary hook-up with\u00a0Dark Mofo<\/a>? The potential for meaningful engagement is huge and would really animate the collection.<\/p>\n For now, I\u2019ll be returning to Phrontisterion\u00a0on the ferry<\/a>\u00a0with my noise cancelling headphones. I really do want to read that book on mummies.<\/p>\nA masculine curiosity<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A study space?<\/strong><\/h4>\n