> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.blankidentity.com.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Hobart's Mona is opening its first overseas museum, on Bangkok's Chao Phraya River - URL: https://www.blankidentity.com.au/mona-bangkok/ - Published: 2026-09-26T08:08:24.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-26T08:08:24.000Z - Description: David Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art will open Mona Bangkok at Asiatique The Riverfront in 2029, themed around light and reached by a cable car across the river. - Author: Sian L - Tags: Culture, News Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) is going international. Founder David Walsh has signed a memorandum of understanding with Thai property group Asset World Corporation (AWC) to create Mona Bangkok, a new art museum on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. The plan was announced on 10 July 2026 and it is the first overseas outpost for the museum that turned Hobart into an art destination when it opened in 2011. ## What is planned Mona Bangkok will sit at Asiatique The Riverfront, a former dockyard site on the Chao Phraya owned by AWC, and is scheduled to open in 2029\. It is not yet under construction and the design is at an early stage; Broadsheet reports it will respond to the shape of the river. Visitors will arrive by a new cable car across the river, which AWC announced alongside the museum. Ocula reports a budget of THB 2 billion for the crossing, and Time Out Bangkok reports it will have no support pillars in the water and is conceived as "kinetic art, weaving colour, sound, movement and technology together". ## Light, not sex and death Where Hobart's museum is known for exploring the body, sexuality and mortality, the Bangkok venue will be organised around the theme of light, which Broadsheet reports will encompass "science, spirituality, technology, perception and nature". Programming will be led by DarkLab, Mona's creative production company. "Having spent most of the last 25 years studying how museums work, AWC has presented us with a remarkable opportunity to take what we've learned to one of the great tourist centres of the world," Walsh said, as reported by the ABC. DarkLab chief executive Leigh Carmichael, who will lead the project, said the museum will present "work by leading international artists, while also creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue with Thai artists, audiences and cultural traditions." According to Broadsheet, he also said other locations had been considered: "We considered projects elsewhere over the years, including in Sydney and on the Gold Coast, but Bangkok was where the right partner, site and scale of opportunity aligned." ## What it means for Tasmania The partnership grew out of a Tasmanian Government trade mission to Thailand in 2025, after which AWC visited Tasmania to meet Mona and local producers. Austrade and the Australian Embassy in Thailand supported the project. "MONA has transformed Tasmania, attracting visitors from around the world and helping establish the State as a globally recognised creative destination," Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff said. "Every visitor inspired by this project in Thailand is a potential future visitor to Tasmania." The news follows a big period of investment at home: AAP reports that Mona's Hobart library extension, which cost more than A$100 million, was completed in June 2026\. Ocula notes that DarkLab earlier abandoned its Transformer project in Tasmania's Huon Valley because of rising construction costs. ## Key details - **What:** Mona Bangkok, a new museum by Mona and AWC - **Where:** Asiatique The Riverfront, Chao Phraya River, Bangkok - **When:** scheduled to open in 2029 - **Tickets:** not yet announced *Sources:* [*ABC News*](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-10/mona-hobart-plans-new-art-museum-bangkok-thailand/106902346?ref=blankidentity.com.au)*,* [*Premier of Tasmania*](https://www.premier.tas.gov.au/latest-news/2026/july/mona-bangkok-shines-global-spotlight-on-tasmania?ref=blankidentity.com.au)