By: Daiyu Tang (who until recently was also employed as a representative of the Museum for transparency!)
Hathian is not a town blessed with the finer things. Every now and then a fine dining restaurant opens and then closes with barely a whimper. While some last a little longer (Prohibition comes to mind) there is often a side-helping of blood on the floor from time to time and a lingering worry that by eating there (or similar) places that someone who probably doesn’t pay their taxes is rubbing their hands at the income.
At the other end of the spectrum, we’ve had places like the Midnight Mandarin which brought food and stripping together and despite the efforts of former owners like Estelle who took on an established business and tried to upmarket it (The Gein in this case) most of the good stuff doesn’t last and now I find myself with one less job, far less cash and a bit of an ache in my heart for what was there.
Statement from Board of Directors of the Hathian Museum & Galleries
The Board has the sad responsibility to announce that after fresh talks on funding failed that the Hathian Museum & Galleries is scheduled to close on Sunday 2nd of March 2025. After this time, we regret to announce that general public access will be prohibited will works take place to safely close the site and return artwork and objects to collections around the United States and elsewhere.
But, art should never expire with a sigh or a whimper, it should go out loud, challenging and with emotion and to this end an event has been scheduled for Saturday the 1st of March 2025 where alongside good music and food and drinks, any Hathian citizen can make bids (above guide price) on artwork on display and we’ll arrange delivery to your address within the area (including Laveau). We hope in this way, some of the artwork that has been collected over time, whether photos, sculpture or even some of the cultural artefacts from Hathian will find a new home.
The party will be running from 2pm SLT to 3.30pm SLT and you can take a taxi HERE.
The Hathian Museum & Galleries opened in late February 2023 and has for two years provided a cultural space for the local Columtreal and Hathian community to come together. Key events in the museum’s history included:
- An opening Fashion Show and Photography Competition
- The hosting of Mr and Mrs Hathian 2023 and the various batches of competitors that applied, leading to the eventual crowning of two of Hathian’s ‘best’.
- The expansion of the venue to include a basement gallery, bar, occult display and other attractions as well as the search for an artist in residence to lead on displays and events within the venue
- The Hathian’s Next Top Model Contest, where contestants were asked to strut their stuff in order to win a grand prize.
- The expansion of the venue to include a new intimate cinema, where we have as directors been privileged to watch many students ‘enjoy’ the showings.
- Hosting the FDH Charity Auction for a ‘Date Night’ where many of the finest FDH men and women offered themselves up for a date! The results? $45k raised for good causes.
- Supporting the archaeological dig between Columtreal University and the Museum & Galleries that led to the recovery of fine new artefacts still displayed today in the museum.
- Hosting the ‘Auction of the Arts of Humanity’ for those in Hathian with not just a fashion sense, but also a routine and sense of how to put it all together… A huge amount raised again with some amazingly different acts…
- Hosting the ‘Luxe of Lunacy’ for the Stillwaters Asylum where special, potentially arcane or occult objects were auctioned for the renovation fund. The party was a huge success, but as can be seen from our current decorations, the slow decline of event bookings and relevance as a hosting space in the area was the first sign that we, as directors, were not meeting the needs of the community.
- Artifacts were recovered from the Laveau coast and brought to the museum for cleaning, cataloguing and safe-keeping.
- Sadly as the year progressed, theft and other issues with damage started to increase within the museum and even the appointment of a new ‘Artist in Residence’ could not stem the front door decline.
Thank You
Thank you for those who have visited the museum over the last two years. We hope you enjoy our closing event and if you see art from Devi, the museum itself or elsewhere that you wish to take home, please let one of our staff know.
((Any art item within reason can be rezzed to your parcel if you arrange it – contact Daiyu Tang. Many thanks to all those who scheduled events with the space I designed and for those who gave me photos from CD RP to host on the walls. If you have not visited, then why not visit OOC before it goes and if any of the photos are of you, please do ask me for them so you can keep them))
