David Walsh, the arch-gambler they call the Tasmanian Devil, first made global headlines in 2009 when he took a macabre bet on the life expectancy of the French artist Christian Boltanski, says The New Yorker. Boltanski is still alive but, in an odd twist of events, Walsh has now found fame under a different guise. A bizarre gallery he has built in his hometown of Hobart has become such an international magnet that Walsh is credited not just with transforming Tasmania's ultra-staid reputation, but with beefing up its languishing economy. Lonely Planet listed Hobart as one of the world's top ten cities to visit in 2013 largely because of Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art (Mona).
Walsh built his theatre of curios (the collection is valued at $100m) mainly for personal gratification. "It's become a more serious endeavour than I intended it to be," he told The Australian. In fact, he only made his first acquisition a Yoruba palace door bought in South Africa for $18,000 because he couldn't take all his blackjack winnings out of the country in hard currency. It was a deceptively innocuous opener for what was to come.
Constructed underground in a labyrinth of tunnels and lit like a nightclub, Mona feels like a mash-up of the lost city of Petra and a late night out in Berlin: from the wall of 151 sculptures of vulvas, to the remains of suicide bombers cast in chocolate, to some stone blocks from Hiroshima railway station. Hi-tech scatology is well represented: there's a lavatory where you can study your own anus and Wim Delvoye's Cloaca Professional: a large reeking machine that produces excrement at 2pm sharp daily. The collection is dedicated to Walsh's twin obsessions with sex and death.
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Walsh, 51, lives in a cliff-top villa above the gallery, with windows in the floor so he can study visitors' reactions. It's not far from the working-class district where he was raised. His father's ashes are now an exhibit. He wasn't much on the scene while Walsh was growing up. In an interview with the German magazine Kunstforum, he described himself as a misfit child, internal to the point of autism.
Yet it was Walsh's extraordinary gift for numbers that changed his life. While studying science at the University of Tasmania, he was asked by friends to develop a model to enable them to win at the local casino. One was Zeljko Ranogajec, with whom he forged a still-thriving partnership. "I'd spot the opportunities, David would do the maths," says Ranogajec. They went on to build one of the world's biggest gambling syndicates, the Bank Roll (see below).
One of the more remarkable things about Walsh is that he appears to have no sense of entitlement, says The New Yorker. True to his gambler's soul, he considers his extraordinary life a fluke.
How he cracked and won the lottery
"Mathematics," Walsh once wrote, "is unsullied and friendships are dirty." But his 30-year partnership with Ranogajec suggests he has a talent for both. Having started out together in a gambling den above a Hobart pub, they spent much of the 1980s and 1990s developing and refining complex systems for various forms of gambling before cracking real success, says Matthew Denholme in The Australian.
When ongoing wins saw them banned from Australian casinos, race courses and dog tracks, they took to playing in Korea, Sri Lanka, Macau and South Africa. But the first real pay-dirt came when they cracked an Australian lottery game called Keno. A later investigation by the Australian Financial Review found that between 1999 and 2001, their Waggon & Horses syndicate won the jackpot three times, against 11 million to one odds.
Having shelled out millions on Mona, which opened in 2011, Walsh now claims to be broke, says Amanda Lohrey in The Monthly. He credits Ranogajec for supporting his collecting mania, even though he doesn't like the objects. Some critics feel much the same including, occasionally, Walsh himself. "It's like I'm standing on my richman's soapbox shouting my views like they mean something". But Mona isn't really about money, it's about a relentless drive to test the meaning of things.
FAQs
Though the condition has never been diagnosed, Walsh and those around him believe that he has Asperger's. It would explain his extraordinary gift with numbers, but it is hard to know where the condition ends and bad manners start. Walsh's rudeness is legendary.
Where did David Walsh get his money? ›
He attended Dominic College, and the University of Tasmania, where he briefly studied mathematics and computer science in 1979. Walsh made his fortune by developing a gambling system used to bet on horse racing and other sports. Walsh describes himself as a "rabid atheist".
Why did David Walsh build MONA? ›
Mr Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art is now a major tourist drawcard on the Hobart waterfront, drawing visitors from all over the world. But the gambler-turned-art collector says he built the museum to stop himself feeling guilty for making money without making a mark.
Does MONA make a profit? ›
Mr Walsh makes no secret of the fact that MONA loses money. The festivals too do not make a profit in their own right. The Tasmanian Government contributes $350,000 to MOFO and $1 million to Dark MOFO. However long MONA serves as a drawcard and gateway to the capital and the state beyond is anyone's guess.
Has Bill Gates been diagnosed with Asperger's? ›
He is also known for his intense focus on his work, which is another common trait. Gates has also been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, which is considered to be on the autism spectrum. This diagnosis is based on his speech patterns and behavior, as well as his difficulty understanding social cues.
What actress husband has Asperger's? ›
LOS ANGELES: Actor-comedian Amy Schumer has revealed that her husband, Chris Fischer, was diagnosed with "autism spectrum disorder". In upcoming Netflix special "Amy Schumer: Growing", the 37-year-old star talks about her personal life, including her marriage to Fischer, reported EOnline.
What does MONA stand for? ›
The mnemonic, MONA, which stands for morphine, oxygen, nitroglycerin, and aspirin, is used to recall the initial management of patients with chest pain (ie, suspected acute coronary syndrome).
Who is the owner of the MONA Museum? ›
What happened to David Walsh? ›
He died of an apparent aneurysm in 1998, suffered at his home in the Bahamas.
Why is MONA controversial? ›
MONA and its associated festivals have been protested by Christians, animal rights groups and Indigenous people over various planned works, and its controversial exhibits include a wall of sculpted vulvas based on real women, as well as a machine that mimics digestion and defecates daily.
Mona is an astrologist who takes her passion seriously. She is very knowledgeable in this subject in part and respects, yet also fears Barbeloth, her master, at the same time. She combines her astrology skills with hydromancy, which makes her a well-known, if still growing astrologist.
Is MONA worth visiting? ›
A day out at Mona—aka the Museum of Old and New Art—is a must-do when visiting Hobart. Leave your sensibilities at the door and embrace the eccentric. Architecture nerds, artsy types, and foodies will be particularly in their element.
How rich is David Walsh? ›
David Walsh – $200 Million
David Walsh first became involved in gambling when he counted cards during his time at the University of Tasmania. Here he met fellow student Zeljko Ranogajec and the two of them soon decided to try their hand at playing blackjack in Las Vegas.
What did MONA cost to build? ›
History. The precursor to MONA, the Moorilla Museum of Antiquities, was founded in 2001 by Tasmanian millionaire David Walsh. It closed on 20 May 2006 to undergo $75 million renovations. The new museum was officially opened on 21 January 2011, coinciding with the third MOFO festival.
Who is David who owns MONA? ›
Mona is the playground and megaphone of David Walsh, who grew up in Tassie (just down the road from Mona), dropped out of uni, played cards, won, did some other stuff, and opened a small museum of antiquities to which no one came. He declared it a triumph and decided to expand.
Who has Asperger's in GREY's anatomy? ›
Dixon doesn't do common courtesy, but she understands rules." At the end of the episode, Dixon reveals to Bailey that she has Asperger's syndrome. Dixon later returns to SGH, and once again doctor Webber wants to recruit her for the cardiothoracic ward, this time assigning resident Christina Yang to woo her.
Who is the top model with Asperger's? ›
Kuzmich was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome when she was fifteen years old, around the time her father died. Kuzmich graduated from Valparaiso High School in 2005. While she was a student at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago, she participated in Season 9 of America's Next Top Model.
Has Stephen Fry got Asperger's? ›
American director and producer Tim Burton from iconic films Edward Scissorhandsand Beetlejuice is confirmed to have Asperger's syndrome, as does famous British comedian Stephen Fry.
