Recently, I’ve come across a few short films and blogs exploring the choice made by some - both in ancient and modern times - to live their lives apart.
Sometimes the choice is to live apart for years, sometimes the intention is never to return to society, and sometimes the retreat is a shorter break. Often times it seems the choice is made by people looking for silence. For a few, there is the need to get away from a sense of persecution. Some are searching for or find mystical experiences. Some seek space for contemplation.
I hope this thread will gather together representations about these remarkable people who choose to live their lives apart.
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This is a film that documents a group of Norwegian artists travelling to the place that the philosopher Wittgenstein chose as his retreat. Along the way, some of the ideas of Wittgenstein are shared and when they arrive, they read some of his writings.
Over 100 years ago, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein went to the fjords of Norway to escape the scholarly world of Cambridge. His former teacher Bertrand Russell wrote, “I said it would be lonely, and he said he prostituted his mind talking to intelligent people.”
Not content with simply moving to the isolation of rural Norway- at the end of the Sognefjord (the deepest and second longest fjord)- Wittgenstein built his hut across the lake and halfway up a mountain from the nearest town (Skjolden). Measuring just 7 by 8 meters, the small cabin dubbed “Little Austria” (his native country) became his home on and off throughout his life (his longest stay here was 13 months).
Today all that remains of his hut are its stone foundation and a very faint hikers trail up the mountain, though some Norwegians are trying to change this. Artists Marianne Bredesen, Sebastian Makonnen Kjølaas and Siri Hjorth (in collaborations with the Wittgenstein Society in Skjolden and funded by Public Art Norway) threw an all-expenses-paid vacation to bring fellow Oslo residents to the ruin. Inspired by Wittgenstein’s argument that “philosophical problems arise when language goes on holiday”, they are calling their art holiday “Wittgenstein on Vacation”. For part one, they entertained their guests with a weekend of lectures, meals and a Wittgenstein interpretation at the site of his cabin. We captured some of the show on our own journey to this disappearing piece of history.