Monday 28 November 2011

Countdown - 3... 2... 1...

It's that close, we're almost counting the hours now until the first advent shrine hits the streets. There are some great ideas going into these shrines, so we're really looking forward to seeing them in situ and reading your comments about them.

If you're on twitter, then we encourage you to follow @sanctus1mcr so that you can have a go at guessing the locations. Each day, we will tweet some clues about where you might find the shrine being released the following morning.

Also, we'd like your help to keep track of the lives of our shrines. You can tweet us, email us or comment on this blog about what's happening to them over the course of Christmas (and send us photo's).

Saturday 19 November 2011

Almost there

Well, it's been a busy few weeks and there are lots of eager shrine designers wracking their brains and getting all creative. There are also a flurry of locations signed up to support the project, so it's all coming together like the ingredients of a lovely Christmas pudding.

If you look just under the blog banner, you will now see some extra pages to look at. The About pages will tell you more about what's going on and who's behind it. The Map page should get updated on the same day as the blog posts of each new shrine.

Less than two weeks to go until our first shrine hits the streets. Excited?

Sunday 13 November 2011

Welcome

Welcome to the start of an exciting new project from Sanctus 1. This blog will develop over the next few weeks, so check back soon to see how it progresses. There will be sections to explain more about the project, more about Sanctus 1 and a summary of the shrines being released into the wilds of Manchester's city centre.

The project aims to reinvent shrines for a contemporary western urban environment; to see if we can shake some dust from this most ancient of worship tools; to find a way to help people connect with God in the midst of the Christmas rush...out and about in the city, in their own time and in their own way.

Like advent calendar windows being opened, one shrine will be set up each day, from December 1st to December 24th. Also like an advent calendar there will be an element of surprise, in that the location and design of each shrine will not be shared on the blog until the day of its release.

By Christmas Day, all 24 shrines will have been 'opened' and the hope is to leave them in place until twelfth night (January 6th). That way, you can walk off the Christmas Pud by taking a tour of the shrines (a pilgrimage of sorts).

This project will naturally be enhanced by people visiting the shrines and reporting back, both on their experiences with and views about them. Also let us know what condition they are in, as we expect some of them to suffer a bit from weathering and possibly vandalism. Be our eyes and ears and report back via the comments against each blogged shrine.

I hope you enjoy visiting a shrine or two (or 24) and that they help you to meet with God in a new way. The picture included here is a prototype and should give you small taster of what to expect.