The MONA art gallery is under fire for exhibiting a photograph which appears to depict an act of bestiality.
The image, by the Ukrainian artist Oleg Kulik, is on display at Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA).
It shows a man apparently involved in a disturbing act with a dog.
MONA is a major Tasmanian tourist attraction with a history of controversies, such as a legal battle over its women’s-only ‘Ladies Lounge’ which reached the Tasmanian Supreme Court, and an admission that Picasso paintings on display were faked by the museum owner’s wife.
A visitor to the gallery, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia that he was braced for confronting art during a recent visit but Kulik’s photograph was a step too far.
The image was displayed ‘behind a curtained off section of the gallery that stated children were not allowed in, but they could easily access it’, he said.
‘I thought there would be images that were sexualised, but nothing that showed illegal acts.
‘I was horrified and disturbed.
‘I love art and am not closed minded, but for me, this was really awful and took days to recover from. It shook me to my core – it’s not art – it’s evil depravity.’
The image, part of a series called Family of the Future, is not the only image of a naked Mr Kulik posing suggestively with dogs – part of a self-professed effort to break down the barrier between humans and animals.
The image is so graphic and offensive that Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to publish it.
Mr Kulik is also known for performances in which he assumes the role of a chained, aggressive dog and attacks visitors.
Bestiality is illegal in Australia but only NSW, Western Australia and Tasmania have banned the possession, distribution and production of materials depicting the act.
This month the NSW Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst called for bestiality porn to be made a federal offence. In response to Kulik’s image, Ms Hurst told Daily Mail Australia, ‘bestiality is animal sexual abuse. It is linked with child abuse and other serious crimes – it is not art’.
‘This act of extreme animal abuse is not some quirky or funny behaviour, this is sadism – and the reason the distribution and possession of bestiality material is illegal in Tasmania,’ she said.
‘The MONA displaying this criminal behaviour as some form of “art” acts to normalise this very dangerous and sickening conduct.
‘We should never be trivialising an act of animal cruelty – especially one that is linked to child abuse. The MONA should remove the image immediately and apologise to the community.’
MONA was founded by the millionaire gambler and art collector David Walsh, with his wife Kirsha Kaechele acting as a curator.
Mr Walsh, from Hobart, made his fortune in professional gambling – first by counting cards in casinos, and then by using self-designed computer programs to bet on the horses.
He opened MONA in 2011 to show off his extensive art collection, describing the venue as a ‘subversive adult Disneyland’. The museum has become known for embracing dark imagery and pushing the boundaries of what is perceived as art.
Mr Walsh is committed to funding the museum himself, although it has received millions of dollars in state funding for festivals: summer’s Mona Foma, which ceased running last year, and the ongoing winter festival Dark Mofo.
Adult Tasmanians get into the museum for a discounted $5 fee, while non-Tasmanians pay $39 for entry. A Deloitte study for the 2017-18 financial year found that MONA had contributed $135million to Tasmania’s economy and supported more than 1,000 jobs.
Supporters over the years have included now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who visited the museum in the lead-up to the 2019 election, and was photographed with Mr Walsh.
The facility has consistently made headlines for displaying provocative art.
In 2021, Mr Walsh had to pull a project featuring Union Jack soaked with blood donated by Indigenous people.
Spanish artist Santiago Sierra’s piece sparked calls for a boycott of Dark Mofo, with one critic slamming the work as ‘abusive shock jock art’.
The festival had made an appeal on social media for Indigenous Australians to donate their blood to the project.
In an apology, Mr Walsh said he had been ‘naive’ in approving the piece, and he had thought it would appeal to the ‘usual leftie demographic’.
A year earlier, MONA had also come under fire over its exhibit, Eat the Problem, which showed a ‘deconstructed’ rabbit laid out in pieces on a table.
The museum defended the display, insisting that eating invasive species like rabbits was more sustainable than culling them.
Christians were also outraged when Dark Mofo placed inverted crosses around Hobart in 2018, while in 2017 there was fury over the inclusion of a bull’s carcass in one of the festival performances.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted MONA for comment.
