Wu-Tang Clan’s ultra-rare album-as-artwork comes to Mona

Secretly recorded over six years and released as a single, ultra-exclusive edition that sold at auction for US$2 million in 2015, the Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is a deliberate rebuttal to the disposable nature of music streaming and the widespread nature of music piracy.

The ultra-rare album – only one copy of it was ever pressed, after which the master files of the recording were deleted – is a two-CD set housed in an ornate silver box.

The album is bound by a legal agreement, which stipulates that it cannot be commercially exploited until 2103, although it can be played at private listening parties. Consequently, it has only been heard before by a handful of people around the world.

The album’s upcoming appearance at Mona is the first time that the album has been loaned to a museum since its original sale.

Visitors can experience a curated 30-minute mix from the album, played from a personalised Wu-Tang PlayStation 1 in Mona’s own Frying Pan recording studio, by attending a listening event.

Namedropping the Wu-Tang Clan will run twice daily, Friday to Monday, from 15-24 June 2024 only. Mona will release a limited number of free tickets for each event. 

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin was originally owned by Martin Shkreli, a pharmaceutical company CEO who became notorious in 2015 for dramatically increasing the price of a dug used by AIDS and cancer patients by more than 4000%.

Shkreli was subsequently found guilty in the US Federal Court of antitrust violations and conspiracy. The court seized US$7.4 million in assets, including Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, and Shkreli was subsequently banned from working in the pharmaceutical industry ever again.

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is now owned by digital art collective Pleasr, the members of which said in a statement: ‘10 years ago, the Wu-Tang Clan had a bold vision to make a single copy album as a work of fine art. To “put it in an art gallery … make music become a living piece like a Mona Lisa or a sceptre from Egypt”. With this single work of art, the Wu-Tang Clan’s intention was to redefine the meaning of music ownership and value in a world of digital streaming and commodification of music. Pleasr is honoured to partner with Mona to support RZA’s vision for Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.’

Read: What do you do with bad reviews? Celebrate them!

Mona’s Namedropping exhibition, which runs from 15 June 2024 to 21 April 2025, aims to explore humanity’s fixation on status and our desire to look good in the eyes of others.

Jarrod Rawlins, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Mona, says: ‘Every once in a while, an object on this planet possesses mystical properties that transcend its material circumstances. Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is more than just an album. So when I was thinking about status, and what a transcendent namedrop could be, I knew I had to get it into this exhibition.’

Music fans will also be able to see original handwritten lyrics to David Bowie’s 1972 song ‘Starman’, showing the musician’s edits and spelling corrections as part of Namedropping.

The lyrics were purchased at auction by Mona owner David Walsh in 2022, with Walsh saying in a statement: ‘I like David Bowie. If you like Bowie, it’s a pretty good bet you’ll like Mona. That’s why we namedrop.

‘So why might this rendition of only the lyrics (after all, it’s the performance that made it famous) be worth the £40,000 that the auction house estimated? Well, it makes the point about Namedropping, so it has come in handy for this exhibition,’ he said.

Tickets for Namedropping the Wu-Tang Clan will be available via the Mona website from 10am AEST, Thursday 30 May.