2,500 members of the public were selected by random ballot for the evening event which included performances by The DC3, True Live, The Scientists of Modern Music, Wire, Health and The Cruel Sea.

Walsh has also said that he wanted a building that "could sneak up on visitors rather than broadcast its presence ... 'a sense of danger' that would enliven the experience of viewing art".

[10] Katsalidis's architecture for the museum has been praised as not only fulfilling its function as a showcase for a collection, but also succeeding as it "extends and magnifies into an experience ... there is a sense that the work, the lighting, the space and the materiality have been choreographed with subtlety and skill into a singular if hugely idiosyncratic whole.

Notable works in its inaugural exhibition, Monanism, included Australia's largest modernist artwork, Sidney Nolan's Snake mural, displayed publicly for the first time in Australia;[15] Wim Delvoye's Cloaca Professional, a machine which replicates the human digestive system and turns food into faeces, excreting it daily;[7] Stephen Shanabrook's On the road to heaven the highway to hell, remains of a suicide bomber cast in dark chocolate;[16] and Chris Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary, a painting created partially with elephant dung.

Walsh also commissioned Damian Cowell, frontman of satirical Melbourne band TISM, to write and record songs about certain works for the original 'The O' device.

[18] Michael Connor of the conservative literary and cultural magazine Quadrant said that "MONA is the art of the exhausted, of a decaying civilisation.

Artist Kirsha Kaechele, who is also David Walsh's wife, defended the exhibition in court, saying that "It excludes men, and I would be lying if I were to say I didn't find it titillating.

Mona’s wintertime counterpart, Dark Mofo continues, with extensive public art exhibitions amid a fairground setting of food and drink, live music and entertainment.

Past headliners at Mona Foma include Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, John Cale, Godspeed You!

Black Emperor, Swans, PJ Harvey and David Byrne, while Dark Mofo line-ups have featured musical acts such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Sunn O))), Laurie Anderson, Mogwai, Ulver, Autechre and Merzbow.