Inside Tasmania’s famous Museum of Old and New Art lies a large, emerald-draped cube.
The walls are thick silk curtains. Within them, a cascading chandelier hangs over a phallus-shaped velvet couch and a chequered marble floor. Opulent gold accents everything – from the framed art on the walls to the furniture.
Women are ushered in and offered champagne by male butlers “who live to serve” them. But men are otherwise noticeably absent, turned away at the entrance.
This “Ladies Lounge” takes the concept of an old Australian pub and turns it on its head.
It was only in 1965 that women won the right to drink in the nation’s bars. Previously, they were relegated to dingy side rooms, if admitted at all, and often charged exorbitant prices for their tipple.
And so, the exhibit – which contains some of the museum’s most-acclaimed works, from Picasso to Sidney Nolan – was designed as a piece of interactive art, intended to provide a safe place for women to enjoy each other’s company, while also highlighting the exclusion they faced for decades.
Artist Kirsha Kaechele calls it an “essential space for perspective and reset from this strange and disjointed world of male domination”.
And it’s one which could now be taken away by a man.
New South Wales resident Jason Lau has complained that the museum, known as Mona, is engaging in illegal discrimination.
This week, the accusation culminated in a high-stakes court hearing – rife with drama and theatrics.
Reparation or discrimination?
Tuesday started with a large group of women dressed in navy power suits, clad in pearls and wearing red lipstick marching into the hearing to support Ms Kaechele.
Mr Lau, by contrast, dialled in without a fuss via a video link. He had visited Mona – long known for its provocative art – while on a trip to Tasmania in April last year, he said, and bought the $35 (£18; $23) ticket expecting access to the whole museum.
“I was quite surprised when I was told that I would not be able to see one exhibition, the Ladies Lounge,” he said.
Representing himself, Mr Lau argued it breaches the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act.
