Most art museums have Friends groups to
help with functions, put up funding for purchases into the collection and bulk
up numbers at openings. The benefits to the Friends themselves vary but mostly there
are discounts, previews and a newsletter. For such packages Friends are
prepared to pay from $15 for a student membership to $30 for a family at the
Govett-Brewster, from $20 for a student membership up to $4,000 for a platinum
one at the Auckland Art Gallery and up to $40 for individual memberships and from
$60 for a family at Te Papa.
But at MONA, the Museum of New and Old Art in
Hobart, a new world of Friend memberships is on offer by the dare-you-to owner
David Walsh. For $75,000 you can have an Eternity Membership including all
the usual MONA membership trimmings plus a guarantee of
perpetual rest. Stump up the cash and your ashes will be stored forever at MONA in a handmade urn (Walsh
disarmingly calls it a ‘fancy jar’) created by New Zealander Julia deVille.
Putting his family where his mouth is Walsh’s father is already up on the
shelf. Contact the museum at info@mona.net.au
or call on 1800REMEMBER.
Image: a funerary urn by Julia deVille
