Sunday, January 18, 2026
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Kulata Tjuta 1000 SPEARS
'The spear is our culture … we live by the spear. We are teaching our young people with spears to look after lore and culture. The spears can protect Country, like they have always been protecting Country for our grandfathers and our ancestors.'] ... Mumu Mike Williams
Kulata Tjuta is an ongoing cultural maintenance project that shares the skills of carving and making the punu kulata (wooden spear) across generations. It started as a project involving a small group of men in Amata and has grown to include over 100 Aṉangu men across the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands.
Kulata Tjuta: Tirkilpa is the largest and most significant installation of the culturally important and visually spectacular Kulata Tjuta (Many Spears) Project. Like others in the series, it is rooted in age-old traditions, knowledge and skills that are designed around keeping Country and culture strong.
The Kulata Tjuta Project was formally established in 2010 at Tjala Arts in the Community of Amata, when Pitjantjatjara artists Mick Wikilyiri, Frank Young, Barney Wangin (1939–2011), Tiger Palpatja (c.1920–2012), Hector Burton (c.1937–2017) and Ray Ken (c.1940–2018) formally conceived of the project under the direction of Willy Kaika Burton (1941–2020).
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Monday, December 22, 2025
MONA Kiefer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Old_and_New_Art
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Mona opens $100m new wing designed by Anselm Kiefer after four-year construction
The long-awaited new wing at Mona has finally opened after four years of construction – and “knackered” owner David Walsh has revealed the eye-watering price of the impressive new building.
Rob Inglis @rg_inglis 2 min read. ecember 20, 2025 - 5:00AM
A new wing has officially opened at Mona after a four-year construction period, with owner David Walsh revealing it cost more than $100m to build.
Elektra, 2025, Anselm Kiefer. New wing at Mona opens. Picture: MONA/Jesse Hunniford
Walsh says the idea for the wing had its genesis more than 15 years ago, when he himself experienced a “Damascene moment” upon visiting La Ribaute.
“Our first visit to La Ribaute came four years before Mona opened. I wanted (and I want) Mona to be as commanding, as compelling and as discomforting,” Walsh said in a blog post on Friday.
“Mona was going to be so drab, so unwhole compared to this. What could we do? Giving in seemed a reasonable option, but we were into construction in Hobart. I was literally in over my head.”
And so Walsh’s vision of building a monument to Kiefer – complete with ‘dream library’ – was deferred, while other additions to the museum, such as the Pharos wing and the Siloam underground tunnel network, were prioritised.
“More years passed. And I thought about La Ribaute, and how I was sanctified there, and about how few were possessed of the opportunity to be amplified by its joy, since visiting isn’t easy,” he said.
A new wing of Mona has opened after four years of construction. It comprises a giant new artwork by the German neo-expressionist artist Anselm Kiefer. Picture: Instagram/Emma Bugg
Through Mona artistic director, Olivier Varenne, Walsh asked Kiefer’s permission to build “something like the vast concrete amphitheatre” at La Ribaute.
“If Mohammed won’t go to the mountain, the mountain should come to Mohammed,” Walsh said.
The Mona boss was candid when discussing the cost of his latest pet project, conceding that the budget had blown out from an initial $11m to more than $100m.
“[It’s] much, much more than I can afford,” he wrote. “Scope creep. And new ideas. And new works. And … And …
Founder of Mona David Walsh. Picture: Zak Simmonds
Walsh has previously proposed to build a high roller casino at the museum, as well as a 176-room hotel.
While the hotel plan was put on the backburner in 2021, Walsh has indicated that he hasn’t given up on the idea.
“I’m knackered. And I’ve had my apotheosis. So let’s build a hotel that I can’t afford and suffer some more,” he said.
Saturday, December 20, 2025
BANGING ON IN LAUNCESTON: THE QUESTION OF TEETH AND EYES
For the record, Ahmed is a Syrian Arab Muslim. That’s a fact. But the rush to relabel him says far more about our broken political discourse than it does about him.
Every time a tragedy happens, a familiar pattern follows. Some people don’t pause to grieve. They don’t centre the victims. They look for an angle. Anti migrant. Anti Muslim. Anti government. The tragedy becomes a tool, not a moment for reflection. Facts become optional. Humanity becomes secondary.
This kind of rhetoric is not harmless. It is the same kind of language that divides communities, fuels resentment, and normalises collective blame. It is the same mindset that created the conditions for Christchurch. The same hatred that has motivated terrorists of different backgrounds and beliefs to dehumanise others and justify violence.
Here’s what actually matters.
In Bondi, innocent people were targeted by terrorists consumed by hate. And in those same moments, ordinary Australians, from different faiths and backgrounds, ran towards danger to protect others. Ahmed was one of them. Others did the same, quietly, instinctively, without asking who was who.
That is the real story.
Blaming entire communities does not make us safer. It deepens division. And division is the oxygen that extremists feed on.
If we genuinely want to honour the victims, we should stop letting tragedy be weaponised and start recognising the truth that keeps this country strong. Most Australians, regardless of faith or origin, will stand up for one another when it matters most.
That’s the lesson we should be taking from Bondi.
LOOKING TO THE GOOD BOOK: Exodus 21:24: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot". This passage is part of the "Book of the Covenant" laws given to the Israelites, intended for judicial administration, the biblical principle of proportional justice found in the Old Testament, and designed to limit retribution. In the New Testament, Jesus quotes this in Matthew 5:38-39 but encourages turning the other cheek instead.
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