Hermit Comes Home
You may remember some time ago I wrote about what could have been the best job in Manchester – living as a hermit in the tower of the Manchester museum. Refresh yourselves here, if you feel the need.
Well, I have news on the hermit front – he’s arrived! That’s right, it was actually true and not just a stupid idea. Well, it may still be a stupid idea but it is also true.
Our resident hermit, who, it has to be said, must be sweating his little Hermit toes off in this weather up in that tower, moved in over the weekend and he’s already been busy blogging- his only form of communication with the outside world. Highlights include a rather detailed description of the gunk he’s had to clean out of his temporary home, the museum’s loft apartment apparently not having been used much in the last century or so. “The bodies of insects, dead skin cells, droppings, mould, minerals deposited by passing traffic, city grime, dust,” are some of the delights he moved in with. Nice.
The purpose of his residency, as we briefly glossed over before, is something to do with purpose and existence and killing the planet – a nice upbeat project to give a man living on his own for a month. He’s also been tasked with questioning the purpose of the actual museum collection and, rather alarmingly, seems to be doing so by threatening to destroy most of it. I quote: “Each day over the next forty days I will choose an object from my collection and offer it up in a spirit of sacrifice. The object will be announced through a variety of media, including this blog. I will then destroy it.” Blimey. Way to protect our heritage, Mr Hermit.
The idea is that people put forward an argument to say why the objects should be saved and, if our secluded friend deems the argument worthy enough, he will save the artefact in question. Quite how he’s been given so much power is beyond me, but never mind. It’s all about questioning things, apparently. I’ve got a few questions of my own at the moment, which I shall reserve until more offerings from the hermit come forward over the next few months. Rest assured, we’ll be monitoring his progress. I’ll leave you with a photo, not of the hermit himself but of his first item up for sacrifice – a human skull.
Well, I have news on the hermit front – he’s arrived! That’s right, it was actually true and not just a stupid idea. Well, it may still be a stupid idea but it is also true.
Our resident hermit, who, it has to be said, must be sweating his little Hermit toes off in this weather up in that tower, moved in over the weekend and he’s already been busy blogging- his only form of communication with the outside world. Highlights include a rather detailed description of the gunk he’s had to clean out of his temporary home, the museum’s loft apartment apparently not having been used much in the last century or so. “The bodies of insects, dead skin cells, droppings, mould, minerals deposited by passing traffic, city grime, dust,” are some of the delights he moved in with. Nice.
The purpose of his residency, as we briefly glossed over before, is something to do with purpose and existence and killing the planet – a nice upbeat project to give a man living on his own for a month. He’s also been tasked with questioning the purpose of the actual museum collection and, rather alarmingly, seems to be doing so by threatening to destroy most of it. I quote: “Each day over the next forty days I will choose an object from my collection and offer it up in a spirit of sacrifice. The object will be announced through a variety of media, including this blog. I will then destroy it.” Blimey. Way to protect our heritage, Mr Hermit.
The idea is that people put forward an argument to say why the objects should be saved and, if our secluded friend deems the argument worthy enough, he will save the artefact in question. Quite how he’s been given so much power is beyond me, but never mind. It’s all about questioning things, apparently. I’ve got a few questions of my own at the moment, which I shall reserve until more offerings from the hermit come forward over the next few months. Rest assured, we’ll be monitoring his progress. I’ll leave you with a photo, not of the hermit himself but of his first item up for sacrifice – a human skull.
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