The Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, known as MONA, has unveiled its latest exhibition, billed as the major show of the year. Titled Hardcore, the work is set three floors underground in the museum and opens its doors to the public from tomorrow, drawing attention to one of Australia's most distinctive art institutions.
Hardcore is the creation of Swiss artist Julian Charriere, and it marks his first solo exhibition in Australia. The museum collaborated closely with the artist to conceive and produce the work over a period of four years, an unusually long development for a single exhibition that reflects the scale and ambition of the project.
At its heart, the exhibition draws on science and geology, examining the way extractive industries have reshaped landscapes across the world. Charriere has spoken of the strong link people have with the soil, the rocks and everything that normally lies beneath their feet, noting that in this show those elements are instead placed above the visitor's head.
The exhibition unfolds across a series of immersive spaces. In one room, basalt rocks brought from Mexico encase obsidian orbs, while field recordings of volcanoes boom through the gallery. The combination of stone, sound and darkness is designed to surround visitors and pull them into the geological themes at the centre of the work.
One piece in particular has been given a lasting place in the museum. A work called Breathe now has a permanent home at MONA, housed in a space specifically built for it. It allows visitors to inhale air evoking the Great Oxidation event, a moment in the planet's history dating back around 2.4 billion years.
Much like the museum as a whole, Hardcore is described as deliberately disorientating. It is dark, loud and immersive, and is intended to remind the audience that humanity occupies only a tiny part of the Earth's vast timeline, set against geological forces that unfolded over billions of years.
The exhibition adds to MONA's reputation for ambitious and challenging contemporary art in Tasmania, and gives audiences an extended window to experience it. Hardcore is set to continue until March of next year, allowing visitors several months to make their way underground and engage with the work that took four years to bring to life.