Two paintings of Pablo Picasso were installed inside the women’s bathrooms of the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), in the south of Australiaafter a court ruling that described it as discriminatory that the venue had an exhibition exclusively for women.
«We have never had female toilets at MONA before, they were all unisex. But after the closure of the ‘Ladies Lounge’ thanks to a lawsuit brought by a man, I simply didn’t know what to do with all those Picassos,” Kirsha Kaechele, the exhibition’s curator, noted on the social network Instagram.
MONA, located in the city of Hobart, decided to close temporarily ‘Ladies Lounge’ following the ruling handed down in April by a Tasmanian administrative court that found it discriminatory for the museum to ban access to the room for men.
In his complaint, a man, identified as Jason Laualleged that in 2023 the museum prevented him from accessing the facility despite having paid the full entrance fee to the facility.
Picasso painting in the female bathroom of the MONA museumKirsha Kaechele on Instagram
Kaechele, who accompanied her 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, into a women’s bathroom
Picture Woman lying on the sofa (1932, Cubist style) stands above a sink, while a Picasso version of the painting Lunch on the grass (1961) is located next to a toilet, as can be 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 that women cannot join.
