The Tasmanian Supreme Court has quashed a legal bid that forced the closure of an art gallery’s controversial ‘Ladies Lounge’.
The hall, inside Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art, was closed in April after New South Wales man Jason Lau complained to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal that he had been unfairly denied entry to the installation.
The court found that the women’s lounge, a small exhibition space in the museum open only to women, contravened Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1998.
The court ordered MONA to “stop denying entry to the Ladies Lounge to persons who do not identify as ladies.”
The gallery was forced to consider its options, including allowing men access to the room or renovating the facility.
Curator Kirsha Kaechele decided to close the ladies’ lounge completely.
On Friday, the decision was overturned following an appeal publicly led by Ms Kaechele, in which MONA lawyers successfully argued that the salon addressed current disadvantages faced by modern women.
In the appeal to the Supreme Court, MONA argued that the exclusion of men was permitted under Article 26 of the state’s 1998 anti-discrimination law.
Ladies Lounge curator Kirsha Kaechele (pictured) said her legal team ‘smashed the patriarchy’
MONA curator Kirsha Kaechele and her supporters at the Supreme Court on Friday.
Kaechele, who is also the wife of MONA owner David Walsh, said her lawyers had “smashed” the patriarchy on Friday.
“It’s a day of triumph for us and we’re very excited,” he said outside court.
“The patriarchy (has been) shattered and the verdict demonstrates a simple truth: women are better than men,” she said outside court.
Kaechele revealed that plans were being prepared for the salon’s future.
‘Something will happen to the ladies’ lounge. “There are plans afoot… some kind of celebration,” he said.
In his ruling, Acting Justice Stephen Marshall concluded that the court had erred in stating that the salon only addressed women’s past experiences of disadvantage.
“The intention (of the salon) was to promote equal opportunities by drawing attention to women’s present and past social disadvantages, giving them the concept of an ‘inverted universe,'” she said.
“(It) provides women with a rare insight into what it is like to be advantaged and not disadvantaged.”
Justice Marshall said the court did not properly consider a report on the status of women in Australia that made reference to structural discrimination.
Lau’s lawyer, Greg Barns, argued that the purpose of the salon was solely to reflect on the historical disadvantage of women.
The Ladies Lounge was closed by a curtain and supervised by an attendant who only allowed entry to people who identified as women.
In the decision, Justice Marshall provided a clearer definition of the space, noting that the room was a “participatory installation.”
“The process of admission or denial of admission and participation in the ladies’ room is part of the art itself,” he said.
MONA curator Kirsha Kaechele said the ladies’ lounge (pictured) was mostly women “drinking champagne, laughing, sitting on a couch.”
Ms. Kaechele (pictured outside the Supreme Court on Friday) can now legally reopen MONA’s Ladies Lounge, but has remained tight-lipped about her plans for the future.
Ms. Kaechele previously considered several ways to circumvent the court’s original ruling; including the attempt to reopen the space as a “church” or a “bathroom.”
The curator posted on social media about her all-female legal team’s day at the Tasmanian Supreme Court on Friday.
‘Supreme Court of Tasmania, this morning at 9:30. We piled in (the ladies: red lips, navy blue, pearls). It took 30 seconds to issue the verdict,” he wrote.
‘The judge’s verdict demonstrates a simple truth: women are better than men. Yes, men are, understandably, a little cranky about this. They can even appeal.
‘I believe in the Ladies Lounge and I love it. She is a unifying force, she has united women from all sides of the political spectrum – hallelujah! Art has merged with the world, dissolving the barriers between art and life.’