The Musem of Old and New Art will be shutting from Wednesday for the foreseeable future to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
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MONA sent an email to staff on Monday outlining the upcoming closure, and confirmed the details this morning, including a description of how Tasmania could "play chess" against a "formidable opponent", COVID-19.
"In a situation where some outcomes, however improbable, cause catastrophic damage to the system and are thus completely untenable, the Precautionary Principle requires me to identify those outcomes and respond to them, rather than to the more probable outcomes that are tolerable," MONA founder David Walsh said in a statement.
"Good chess players play like that: they don't plan for mistakes from an opponent; instead, they prepare for the best move that the opponent can make."
While encouraging this chess game, MONA stated it was best that it - and other institutions - remove themselves from the game.
"Mona, most likely, would play no part in the spread of this insidious coronavirus, and so closing would, probably, play no part in protecting against it," Mr Walsh wrote.
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"But there's a chance that Mona could become a major centre for contagion. Preventing people interacting prevents many unlikely infections, but unlikely infections add up. They might add up to mayhem."
The statement also supported parents who chose to keep their children at home.
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