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Music

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Open your ears


  • Hours:

    Thursday to Monday, 10am⁠-⁠6pm

If the weather is good, the music is outside on the lawns. If it’s crap, it’s inside the Ether building nearby. In the museum, you might find musicians-in-residence performing live each day.

Upcoming

  • The Black Sea Carnys

    Free

    28 December 1pm–2pm

    Mona Lawns

  • Bing/Santospirito

    Free

    28 December 2pm–4pm

    Mona Lawns

  1. Saturday 28 December 2024

    1. The Black Sea Carnys

      Brooding, experimental quartet blending darkwave, post-punk and industrial rock.

      • Free

      • 28 December 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Bing/Santospirito

      Hypnotic improvised sounds for violin, piano, drums (Bing) and guitar, piano and drums (Santospirito). Noise, improv, jazz.

      • Free

      • 28 December 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  2. Sunday 29 December 2024

    1. LCO Trio

      Lead by Melbourne based drummer Liam O'Leary, LCO Trio will take you through the sights and sounds of some original and standard jazz music with some of Hobart's finest home grown local musicians.

      • Free

      • 29 December 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. OM3

      Tenacious, high-energy improvisers fusing hip-hop, post-punk and funk.

      • Free

      • 29 December 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  3. Monday 30 December 2024

    1. Comrad Xero

      Techno-factory: live bass from Graham Meredith, plus keyboards and vocals over prerecorded sounds composed by Comrad Xero themselves.

      • Free

      • 30 December 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Philomath

      An improv band with a philosophy of musical risk-taking, who are aiming to reach an alternate sonic universe.

      • Free

      • 30 December 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  4. Wednesday 1 January 2025

    1. South Weight Hi-Fi

      A big, hand-built sound system that'll be pumping out family-friendly day-party jams. Dub, reggae, roots, plus the odd cultural offshoot.

      • Free

      • 1 January 2025 12–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  5. Thursday 2 January 2025

    1. 208L Containers

      Absurdist rockers straddling the line between post-punk and pub rock. Imagine John Clarke riffing over a slightly warped Minutemen cassette.

      • Free

      • 2 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Tasha Zapppala

      lutruwita / Tasmania-based singer-songwriter, sound artist and researcher who spends her time touring, making billypots of beans, drinking tea and capturing field recordings.

      • Free

      • 2 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  6. Friday 3 January 2025

    1. Willow Nischler

      Not easily pigeon-holed, but if you were going to, you'd probably say post-punk wrapped in a cloak of alt-folk (from a young woman trying to find her place in the world).

      • Free

      • 3 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. La Descarga

      A 'tropical boom experience full of fiery colourfulness and boneshaking rhythms' inspired by—and maintaining—the folkloric rhythms of coastal Colombia.

      • Free

      • 3 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  7. Saturday 4 January 2025

    1. Tai Harlii

      RnB and jazzy space jams. Might get a bit goth-y (in a good way).

      • Free

      • 4 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. TIM BOH

      Innovative soundscapes from the bleeding edge of IDM and experimental electronic. A hybrid performance of live stuff and DJ work.

      • Free

      • 4 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  8. Sunday 5 January 2025

    1. Den.

      Heartfelt blends of blues, folk and pop, layered with stirring electropop-esque rhythms and moody counter-melodies.

      • Free

      • 5 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Matthew Magnus

      Local artist and composer does slowly evolving, continuous music inspired by Hindustani classical music, the Coltranes and American minimalists.

      • Free

      • 5 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  9. Monday 6 January 2025

    1. Naomi Baltyn

      Captivating, ethereal emotionally charged solo stuff from an accomplished ex-Boorloo / Perth songwriter.

      • Free

      • 6 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Jamie Pregnell Trio

      JP leads a jazz-posse with his elite guitar skills.

      • Free

      • 6 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  10. Thursday 9 January 2025

    1. Ross Smithard and Up Jumped Trouble

      Old-time mountain tunes and songs for fiddle and banjo.

      • Free

      • 9 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Rain of Animals

      Instrumental wizardry and vocal harmonies ft. mandolin, fiddle and guitar. Bluegrass, oldtime, swing.

      • Free

      • 9 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  11. Friday 10 January 2025

    1. The Pits

      Ex-Queensland punks making music to get your mum pogoing.

      • Free

      • 10 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Simon Patterson

      Simon's played with Kate Ceberano and was in the the Hey Hey It's Saturday house band. Goes without saying that he's very handy with a guitar.

      • Free

      • 10 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  12. Saturday 11 January 2025

    1. Bextexta

      Trip-hop, shoegaze and hints of Britpop through a dense wash of synth, guitar and beats.

      • Free

      • 11 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Nice House

      Your 'new-wave pop-rock neighbours in short shorts and sneakers, asking risqué questions over the scraggly fences of nipaluna / Hobart'. Vocal pizazz, synths, plenty of dancing.

      • Free

      • 11 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  13. Sunday 12 January 2025

    1. Grace Chia + DJ Thensum

      Grace Chia—who curated this Saturday afternoon of local hip-hop—brings her inimitable mix of hard-hitting bars, soulful melodies and old-school beats to the lawns, backed by DJ Thensum.

      • Free

      • 12 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. MightE DreamR

      Rapper, producer, composer, DJ from 'a subconscious jungle in Hobart'. Rich, organic, juicy funk.

      • Free

      • 12 January 2025 2–3pm

      • Mona Lawns

    3. Dunn D

      One of Hobart's hardest-working and highly acclaimed hip-hop artists. Rapper, lyricist, battle-rap legend.

      • Free

      • 12 January 2025 3–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  14. Monday 13 January 2025

    1. Billy Whitton

      A local institution, is Billy. Blues, jazz, country, soul and Americana. Maybe some funk.

      • Free

      • 13 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Shark and Fox

      Murder ballads: subwoofer-boosted accordion, twanging gourd banjo licks played on a fretless children's Stratocaster, vintage synths controlled by a violin, and an Argentinian bombo fashioned into a drumkit.

      • Free

      • 13 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  15. Thursday 16 January 2025

    1. Chamberwoman

      Deep, aching balladry with a country twang.

      • Free

      • 16 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Harry Bird

      An energetic, feel-good set of finely crafted songs, freewheeling anecdotes and general good humour.

      • Free

      • 16 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  16. Friday 17 January 2025

    1. Photosynthesis

      Anarchic blends of anarchic synths and circuit-bent electronica, morphing from 'nearly musical' to 'downright noise chaos'. Audience participation possible.

      • Free

      • 17 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Sunny Bois

      A trio of youthful types on bass (and effects), drums and textural percussion, and keyboard / synths. High-energy original comps and modern arrangements of jazz standards.

      • Free

      • 17 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  17. Saturday 18 January 2025

    1. Liquid Nails

      Three determined, noisy misanthropes channelling the essence of classic UK post-punk (with a Tasmanian twist).

      • Free

      • 18 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Troth

      Blurs the lines between minimal synth-pop, immersive ambient and field recording-based sound art.

      • Free

      • 18 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  18. Sunday 19 January 2025

    1. EWAH & The Vision of Paradise

      Psychedelic, cinematic mergings of post-punk and new wave.

      • Free

      • 19 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. FFLORA X Grace Chia

      The improvisatory talents of FFLORA—an eight-piece collective who’ll never play the same set twice—combine with the hard-hitting bars of RnB poet and rapper Grace Chia to create some fresh bangers. Gritty, intoxicating hip-hop, uplifting harmonies and heavy grooves.

      • Free

      • 19 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  19. Monday 20 January 2025

    1. Mum & Dad

      A mum and dad from Moonah who tell it like it is while making you shake your rump.

      • Free

      • 20 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Louise Denson Trio

      Funky grooves, originals, soaring melodies. Music to move you.

      • Free

      • 20 January 2025 2–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

  20. Thursday 23 January 2025

    1. Off-Put

      Local alt-rock three piece.

      • Free

      • 23 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Mickey & Michelle

      Virtuousic Celtic-influenced harp, fiddle and vocals from the mountains.

      • Free

      • 23 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  21. Friday 24 January 2025

    1. Golden Sunbird

      Wailing, cosmic psych-rock from outer space (and northern Tasmania).

      • Free

      • 24 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Tiff Norchick

      A reclusive creative based in nipaluna. They write songs and choral arrangements, and play harp.

      • Free

      • 24 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  22. Saturday 25 January 2025

    1. Moses Iten

      Moses is a scholar of cumbia music and sound-system culture, here to spin up a storm of stuff he's collected on tours across the globe.

      • Free

      • 25 January 2025 1–2.30pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Coco Varma

      Humanist, artist, producer, DJ and composer. From India, via London (and shows alongside some of the biggest names in the UK house and rave scenes).

      • Free

      • 25 January 2025 2.30–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  23. Sunday 26 January 2025

    1. mave

      Left-of-centre folk-rock covering death, darkness and general malaise.

      • Free

      • 26 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Barefoot Nellie

      Old time mountain music evoking images of log cabins, woodsmoke and maybe some unrequited love.

      • Free

      • 26 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  24. Monday 27 January 2025

    1. Goat Rodeo

      Two-piece melodic sludge.

      • Free

      • 27 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Gentle Duel

      Desert guitars, synths and sublime vox perform 'sad songs to make you happy'.

      • Free

      • 27 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  25. Thursday 30 January 2025

    1. Aquarian

      Lo-fi ambient dreams. Deep drone with modular synths.

      • Free

      • 30 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Staggersaur

      A hotpot of breakbeat, funk and wobbly bass cooked up by multi-instrumentalist Hayato.

      • Free

      • 30 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns

  26. Friday 31 January 2025

    1. N.E.W Monochrome

      It stands for 'Neika Electronic Workshop'. Decades-gone electronica and a tough of industrial mayhem from an arsenal of new and vintage synths, samplers and drum machines.

      • Free

      • 31 January 2025 1–2pm

      • Mona Lawns

    2. Craig Woodward

      Old-time fiddler, banjoist and Cajun accordionist does fiddlin' 'n' singin'; mountain blues and ballads; Cajun two-steps; waltzes and stomps from the swamps.

      • Free

      • 31 January 2025 2–4pm

      • Mona Lawns


Accessibility

Getting on the ferry

The lower deck is accessible for mobility aids and prams, and includes a bar and accessible toilet. Upon arrival at Mona, you will disembark at the bottom of 99 stairs that lead up to the museum entrance.

Getting around

Mobility aids
Mona is mostly accessible for mobility aids (wheelchairs, walking frames and scooters), prams, and assistance and guide dogs. The museum has a ground-level entrance, including an information desk, cloaking and shop; and three subterranean floors: B1 nearest the top, then B2, and B3 at the very bottom. Three lifts operate inside the museum: the main lift takes you from the museum entrance down to B3 and B1; the internal lift shuttles between B3, B2 and B1, but does not exit the museum; and the Pharos atrium travels from B3 to B2, connecting the underground tunnel network. We recommend bringing your own mobility aids (there’s quite a bit of walking in the museum). Mona has some wheelchairs available to borrow, but these can’t be reserved in advance. Speak to staff at the museum entrance when you get here.

Some parts of the museum are not accessible with mobility aids: the Pausiris chamber, parts of the heritage-listed Round House building, and certain artworks such as James Turrell’s Unseen Seen, Richard Wilson’s 20:50 and Alfredo Jaar’s The Divine Comedy.

Taking a break
There are seats throughout the museum if you want to relax (just don’t sit on the art, the curators get sad when that happens, unless it’s an art seat). There’s even a bar. Settle in. Have a drink. If you need somewhere quiet for a break, try the parent and carer room on B3. Speak to gallery staff positioned throughout the museum if you need assistance.

Good to know
The museum can get a bit dark, noisy and sometimes smelly. Strobe lighting operates in some areas; check the map on your O. Be aware if you don’t like confined spaces. Ditto the feeling of getting a bit lost. It’s all part of your journey through Mona. Mona’s grounds are a bit hilly and mostly accessible via footpaths and ramps. Here you’ll find the mostly accessible Moorilla Wine Bar and Ether Building, which houses accommodation reception on the ground floor and the Source Restaurant and Cellar Door upstairs (accessible via lift).

Contact

If you have any questions or specific requirements, contact our Bookings and Enquiries team before your visit.

visit@mona.net.au

+61 (3) 6277 9978

And if you have any feedback on accessibility at Mona, please let us know by filling out this form.