Man to live in rock for a week

Last Wednesday a French artist was entombed inside a 12-tonne boulder. He is hoping to last 7 days inside the rock

Abraham Poincheval had hollowed out a hole in the rock just big enough for him to sit, with a place to hold supplies of water, soup and dried meat. Once inside the two halves of the limestone rock were closed on him.

If he survives the ordeal, the artist will then attempt to hatch a dozen eggs by sitting on them for weeks on end.

Just before he stepped inside the rock, Poincheval said that claustrophobia was the least of his worries.

Instead he was more anxious about stopping his mind wandering.

Another problem he will have to deal with is going to the toilet. He would have to sit on a small container and pee into his water bottles once he had drunk them. Unfortunately, things are not so easy if he wants to do a poo, “The stone will absorb some of the smell,” he said. “I think I can take it.”

The artist has spent months mentally and physically preparing himself for the practicalities of life inside the rock, where he will sit up with his arms outstretched.

Holes have been bored for air and cables for a heart monitor and an emergency video link.

Poincheval is no stranger to bizarre ideas

He once spent a fortnight inside a stuffed bear eating worms and beetles, was buried under a rock for eight days and navigated France’s Rhone river inside a giant plastic corked bottle.

He has crossed the Alps in a barrel and last year spent a week on top of a 20-metre pole outside a Paris train station!