Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art takes its fight for a man-ban to the Supreme Court

A museum in Hobart is taking its fight for a women’s only exhibition to the Supreme Court after it was ordered to shut it down by a lower court that agreed with a male activist’s claim that it discriminated against men.

The Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) on Tuesday lodged an appeal to challenge a ruling last month by the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) to admit “persons who do not identify as ladies”.

Museum artist and curator Kirsha Kaechele, who is married to Mona creator David Walsh, said she was pursuing the appeal “for the good of art, and the law”.

“We need to challenge the law to consider a broader reading of its definitions as they apply to art and the impact it has on the world, as well as the right for conceptual art to make some people (men) uncomfortable,” she said.

“Ladies love the Lounge—a space away from men—and given what we have been through for the last several millennia, we need it! We deserve both equal rights and reparations, in the form of unequal rights, or chivalry—for at least 300 years.”

The exhibit in the centre of the cavernous Mona space is a green silk-curtained zone sectioned off from the main area.

A concierge invites women into the space, which features artworks by Picasso and Sidney Nolan as well as statues and other gold-themed collectables including the crown Ms Kaechele wore for her wedding.

There is a Venetian Murano chandelier and green velvet lounges in the small area that opened in December 2020 and has welcomed more than 420,000 visitors.

Ms Kaechele said in creating the exhibit that the area represented the fact that “women deserve both equal rights and special privileges (in the form of unequal rights, or chivalry) for a minimum of three hundred years (to be refined by esteemed legal minds specialising in such matters)“.

However male activist Jason Lau, from NSW, won his claim in court that banning men from the area was discriminatory and the exhibit has been closed for the past several weeks.

Mona said on Tuesday the appeal was lodged “on the grounds that TASCAT took too narrow a view in terms of women’s historical and ongoing societal disadvantage and did not recognise how the experience of the Ladies Lounge can promote equal opportunity”.

Ms Kaechele said she had been encouraged and inspired by the feedback she had from women following the earlier high-profile court fight and indicated it would continue in another form if her appeal was unsuccessful.

”I am grateful to have received so many wonderful ideas for the future of the Ladies Lounge, and possibilities for its reformation,” she said.

“This encouragement has reassured me that I am indeed appealing.”