The Ladies Lounge exhibit at Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) has been a lightning rod for both artistic expression and legal disputes ever since it opened. The installation, curated by the artist Kirsha Kaechele, first opened its doors in December 2020 as a female-only space, pampering women with champagne and male butlers amidst some of the museum's most fine artworks. The exhibit soon became enveloped in a series of charged events redefining its existence and public perception.
The Opening and Initial Concept
Upon its opening, the Ladies Lounge was an exclusive space for women only, decorated with some of the finest available pieces by famous artists like Pablo Picasso and Sidney Nolan. Kaechele's nature of provision was to build a space that would mirror historical exclusions of women, flipping the narrative that it denies access to men.
The Ladies Lounge was adorned with lush green velvet drapes, gilded furniture, and sophisticated decor, creating a visually stunning and inviting space. This developed a physical and metaphorical retreat to the outside world, speaking to exclusiveness and comfort. At the opening, guests were greeted by male butlers dressed in elegant uniforms, who served champagne and catered to their needs. In fact, using male butlers was a very conscious aspect of this exhibit to show historical gender dynamics and role play for women, allowing them to experience something near to the privileges reserved for men throughout history.
Initial reactions to The Ladies Lounge were a mix of fascination, admiration, and controversy. The visitors were interested in the idea behind this exhibit and the lavish presentation. The Ladies Lounge was seen as an opportunity to many women to experience a space celebrating female exclusivity and empowerment. On the other hand, some wondered whether the Ladies Lounge, by being exclusive, was not practicing discrimination itself, while others debated whether a historical grievance was an appropriate basis for an art installation. Kaechele explained, “The men are experiencing Ladies Lounge, their experience of rejection is the artwork.”
Legal Challenges and Court Rulings
In April 2023, the tranquility of the Ladies Lounge was shattered when a New South Wales man, Jason Lau, complained about exclusion from the exhibit due to gender grounds. Lau filed a legal complaint on grounds of the exclusion as being discriminatory against him under Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Act. In eary 2024, the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal gave a decision in favor of Lau, declaring that MONA had to permit all persons, regardless of their gender identity, to be admitted to view the artwork within 28 days. Deputy President Richard Grueber’s decision was based on the finding that, “It is not apparent how preventing men from experiencing the art within the space of the Ladies Lounge, which is Mr. Lau’s principle complaint, promotes opportunity for female artists to have work displayed.” This ruling highlighted the paradoxical nature of the exhibit’s purpose and the legal implications of its gender-based exclusion.
The Transformation of the Exhibit
In response to the tribunal's ruling, Kaechele was determined to overcome the ruling by turning Ladies Lounge into an all-purpose facility to take advantage of several legal loopholes. She suggested turning the exhibition into a toilet, a church and a school—all of which were supposedly meant to enjoy legal loopholes that would continue to keep out the men. For this transformation, Kaechele had planned to put a toilet in her exhibit; however, the toilet would not only serve as a useful facility but also would be an art in itself, provocative. She compared this installation to Marcel Duchamp’s iconic art piece “Fountain” which was a urinal that had served to challenge the very concept of art upon its first display. They added a toilet to redefine the Ladies Lounge as a restroom and, thus, to meet one of the legal loopholes allowing the building to retain its single-sex access. During this transition, the Ladies Lounge was temporarily closed, with its key artworks moved to the women’s restroom to ensure uninterrupted viewing for female visitors.
Art as Illusion: The Unmasking of Forgeries
With the lawsuits flying back and forth, yet another scandal broke out. In July 2024, Kaechele admitted that the Picasso paintings on exhibit in the Ladies Lounge were fakes. She confessed to having faked those artworks with the help of her manicurist's niece, by aesthetic preference and under time pressure stating “I am relieved I have told you because now we can revel together in this madness.” This threw another curveball into the narrative of the exhibit, calling into question ideas of authenticity and artistic integrity. Other exhibition objects, including New Guinean spears and a rug, said to have belonged to Queen Mary of Denmark, were similarly exposed as fabrications. The revelation that the Picasso paintings were fakes put a question mark over the validity of the entire exhibition. Visitors who believed they were experiencing genuine works of art were faced with the reality that they had been part of an elaborate illusion. This had some serious repercussions for MONA, since further undermining the reputation of the museum also led to ethical concerns in the representation of art.
The Artist's Intentions and Thought Process
Kirsha Kaechele's Ladies Lounge was a social challenge and provocation. She initiated an all-women space as a means of reflection on historical exclusions that women have gone through. "The Ladies Lounge is about flipping the script on exclusion," she said. Her choice to repurpose the Lounge as a toilet was at one time both a legal maneuver and a conceptual artwork in the vein of Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain." By exposing the Picasso paintings as fakes, Kaechele challenged the audience to question concepts of authenticity and value in art. "Art is as much about perception as it is about authenticity," she said. “By using forgeries, I wanted to make people question what they value in art—is it the name, the history, or the visual experience?” She aimed at putting on display something to engage the audience in an active discourse about gender, authenticity, and the role of art in society. She wanted to create an exhibit that was not just a passive experience but an active engagement with societal issues. Her actions, though controversial, were aimed at sparking dialogue and reflection. “Art should provoke, challenge, and engage,” Kaechele remarked.
The Aftermath and Legacy
The Ladies Lounge series of events has done a bit more than stamp its mark within MONA and the wider art community. In doing so, Kaechele's intention—at least to test the boundaries of society, provoke thought about gender, freedom, and authenticity—has thus come through, although perhaps in ways she may not have expected. That is the path this exhibit has followed: from a retreat exclusively for women to a contentious legal battleground and, eventually, being an artistic platform of deception, a showcase of the complex and intricate interplay in a creative work between art, the law, and social commentary.
As the Ladies Lounge makes reforms to become legally acceptable while retaining its provocative essence, so its story continues. What was originally conceived as a space solely for women has now grown into a powerful narrative of exclusion, artistic expression, and the ever-changing boundaries of societal norms.