Australian man goes to court to demand entry to a women-only exhibition

If there’s one activity that men love doing more than any other, it is engaging with feminist conceptual art. It’s no surprise, then, that an aggrieved Australian bloke is taking a gallery to court to demand his right to enter a women-only exhibition.

Ladies Lounge, an ongoing installation by American artist Kirsha Kaechele, opened at the MONA gallery in Tasmania back in 2020. Open to “any and all ladies”, the experience involves women being pampered and served champagne by male butlers as they take in some of the gallery’s most prestigious works, including pieces by Picasso and Sydney Nolan. According to MONA’s website, “The lounge is a tremendously lavish space in our museum in which women can indulge in decadent nibbles, fancy tipples, and other ladylike pleasures – hosted and entertained by the fabulous butler.”

Unless they’re serving drinks, men are not welcome past the installation’s plush velvet curtains. As Kaechele told The Guardian, this aspect of the installation has attracted a large number of complaints, but one male visitor went a step further: after visiting MONA and being denied entry last April, Jason Lau filed a legal complaint against the gallery, arguing that he was being discriminated against on the basis of his gender. The case was finally heard this Tuesday by the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in Hobart, the island’s capital.

He told the hearing: “I visited MONA, paid 35 Australian dollars,” or about $23, “on the expectation that I would have access to the museum, and I was quite surprised when I was told that I would not be able to see one exhibition, the Ladies Lounge. Anyone who buys a ticket would expect a fair provision of goods and services.” Lau is not seeking compensation and – as even MONA’s lawyer admits – appears to be motivated out of the sincere convincing that the exhibition should be open to all.

But as Kaechele sees it,  this would undermine the work. The rejection that Lau experienced is the whole point of the exhibition, she argues, which is intended as a commentary on the history of gender discrimination against women in Australia – including the practice of separate “ladies lounges” in public bars, which existed until very recently. “The men are experiencing Ladies Lounge, their experience of rejection is the artwork. OK, they experience the artwork differently than women, but men are certainly experiencing the artwork as it’s intended,” she said.

Seizing an opportunity to continue the installation, Kaechele turned up at the hearing with a troupe of 25 female supporters, all dressed in matching navy business suits. According to a report in The Guardian, “Throughout the day’s proceedings, they engaged in discreet synchronised choreographed movements, including leg crossing, leaning forward together and peering over the top of their spectacles,” before exiting the room to a Robert Palmer song. 

As in Britain, Tasmania’s laws do allow for discrimination in certain cases, if there is perceived to be a justifiable need for it, and the tribunal is expected to reach a decision this month. Whatever the outcome, one thing is clear: everyone involved in this story sounds kind of annoying.