MONA founder David Walsh is proposing a giant vagina to adorn Mount Wellington. To be known as Outwent: The Yoni Glutton of Fragrant Prophecy, the installation will be a femmesque counterpoint to the phallic Detached Art Tower to be built in downtown Hobart.
“Between these two dynamic locations we will have a yin-yang axis, through which the people of Hobart can explore their sexual polarity,” explained Walsh during a Dark Mofo interlude. “As with most MONA projects I don’t really expect everyone to like it, but then again vaginas are pretty likeable I suppose.”
The installation is to be located on a dead-end track at the base of Kunanyi. A large tunnel will take participants deep inside the vagina where they can commune with their feminine side in a birthing experience. Traditional indigenous artists and their modern counterparts will be commissioned to develop interactive artworks that will guide participants “on their journey into the moist and seductive unknown.”
Walsh was coy about opening times and fees for Outwent. “Like everything else it’s a gamble,” explained Walsh. “Maybe you pay to commune with Yoni.
Maybe you get drunk and get in for free. Or maybe she just lures you in, or maybe refuses you as is her right. Maybe the experience is to respect the Prophecy from a distance. It remains to be seen how, in effect, Yoni births herself into existence.”
The development is not expected to affect the cable car project, if and when a concrete proposal is put forward. “I guess passengers might be able to see it from the air. Yeah,” said Walsh. “If they arc up we could consider a giant shade sail or something like that, effectively a bikini to the heavens. Although, probably see-through when wet,” he noted wryly.
Hobart City Council is yet to officially comment on the proposal, although Alderman Marti Zucco said if the project seemed offensive they could always screen it with a giant blue and green band-aid.
