Two paintings by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso were installed inside the women’s bathrooms of the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), in South Australia, after a court ruling that described it as discriminatory that the venue would have an exclusive exhibition for women. “We’d never had women’s bathrooms at MONA before, they were all unisex. But after the Ladies Lounge closed thanks to a lawsuit brought by a man, I just didn’t know what to do with all those Picassos.”noted Kirsha Kaechele, the curator of the exhibition, on the social network Instagram.
The MONA, located in the city of Hobart, decided to temporarily close “Ladies Lounge” after the ruling handed down in April by a Tasmanian administrative court that found it discriminatory for the museum to ban men from accessing the room, reports EFE. In his complaint, a man, identified as Jason Lau, alleged that in 2023 The museum denied him access to the installation despite having paid the full entrance fee to the facility.
Kaechele, who accompanied its publication with a video and photos of the women’s services, already advanced during an interview published in May on the museum’s blog the possibility of converting the “Ladies Lounge” exhibition, housed at MONA since 2020, in a women’s bathroom. The painting ‘Woman Lying on the Sofa’ (1932, cubist style) is located on a sink, while a version of Picasso’s painting “Lunch on the Grass” (1961) is located next to a toilet, as seen in the images.
“We will reopen the room as a church, school, luxury establishment or installation (…) in the meantime, enjoy women!”, remarked the American artist on the social network. With “Ladies Lounge”, Kaechele sought to reflect “the historical gender segregation” in Australia, a country where until 1965 only men had the right to enter a bar to drink or where there are gentlemen’s clubs of which women cannot be part.
