The Garbage Man (The Man who Never Threw Anything Away)(2)

Narrator
Coming into this room feels like being part of a mystery.  

Voice
Not so fast! What does the word “mystery” actually mean? 

Narrator
Well, a mystery is something that we don’t completely understand. 

Voice
Okay, I get it. 

Narrator
Actually, that’s exactly what you don’t do, if something is a mystery! Did you get my joke? 

Voice
Yes, okay. Just get on with it. 

Narrator
So should I start again from the beginning?

Voice
Yes, start again!

Narrator
I really ought to have some music. 

Coming into this room feels like being part of a mystery.  

Who might have lived here? And where is that person now? 

Why have they collected all these things? 

Do you collect anything in particular?  

Voice
Are you talking to me? 

Narrator
Not really, I’m talking to the person listening to this audioguide!  

Voice
Okay, but is it all right for me to listen in for a bit? I promise I’ll be very quiet. 

Narrator
Yes okay, but you MUST be quiet from now on. 

Voice
Okay. 

Narrator
Shhhhh! Now then: Hello to you, our listener! Yes, I’m talking to you now. Perhaps you have things at home that you look after extra carefully? What do you think we could learn about you, just by looking at the things you keep in your room?  

Voice
That’s a really difficult question! 

Narrator
You’re supposed be keeping quiet!

Voice
Well okay, but I just wanted to help the person who’s listening. Maybe they can’t think how to answer?  

There’s really an awful lot of weird stuff in this room: lots of labels, a beetle, a ball of fluff, a letter, a dog leash and lots of other things. What kind of place is this?  

Narrator
It’s actually an artwork — all the things and even the rooms themselves are part of it. It’s supposed to be some rooms from an apartment in Moscow in Russia, where lots of people and families were crammed into very small apartments. 

The man who made all of this imagined there was a person called The Garbage Man, who lived right here in these rooms. None of the other people living in the apartment had ever met The Garbage Man, they just knew that he took good care of all the things that he found.  

If you carry on looking for clues, maybe you will be able to find out more about him.