One of the more curious attractions at Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is Tim. The adult male Tim has his entire back covered in a tattoo created by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. He typically sits dead-still for 6.5 hours a day – and he’s still there.
MONA closed its doors to the public on March 18 due to the unfolding coronavirus pandemic. The globally valued museum has kept two exhibitions running via live stream, however. There’s Spectra, which premiered at MONA in 2013. Spectra consists of 49 custom-made Xenon searchlights, which send a tower of white light 15 kilometres into the Hobart sky. It can be viewed online from sunset Saturday ’til sunrise Sunday “until Mona reopens”.
The other continuing exhibit is the more bizarre of the two. See, Tim requires daily human effort. The living, breathing canvas arrives at the museum every day to sit from 10.00am-4.30pm AEST. According to the museum’s website, Tim has sat for over 3500 hours since first appearing at Mona in 2011.
Watch: Tim live stream
Ostensibly the attraction is Delvoye’s tattoo, which is a tangle of various motifs. The most prominent is an image of the Madonna, who sits under a calavera-style human skull. A variety of birds, fish, flowers and other characters encircle the two leading images. The long-game plan is for Tim’s skin to be removed and preserved when he dies.
But what’s most compelling about the installation is Tim himself. He’s a human being after all, sitting unruffled for several hours at a time. And while the tangible awareness of his humanity is somewhat diminished by the live stream, the exhibition has taken on a new resonance in the midst of coronavirus lockdown.
You now know that Tim is sitting there all alone. There are no passing museum visitors to keep him on his game. It’s just him in an empty, silent gallery. You can view the exhibition every day of the week (except Tuesdays).
