As his worshippers would expect, Peter Greenaway's explanation of his latest work, The Tulse Luper Suitcases, is as translucent as oxtail soup.
"Until otherwise contradicted, Tulse Luper is associated with a life history of 92 suitcases, and since 92 is the atomic number of uranium we can make that fact significant," the film-maker said yesterday, describing the extraordinary art installation he has created in Warwickshire. There's more on the way: 300 people and eight production companies are making three films and 92 DVDs - one for each suitcase.
The suitcases and their contents fill half the galleries at Compton Verney, a grade I listed country house in a Capability Brown landscape near Stratford-upon-Avon, which will reopen to the public next week.
Over the last 10 years the mansion has been restored at a cost of £64m "so far", according to its owner, Sir Peter Moores. Sir Peter, an heir to the Littlewoods fortune, bought the house, paid for the restoration and gathered the art - an eclectic collection including ancient Chinese bronzes, Tudor portraits, 18th century Neapolitan landscapes, giant boots and monstrous teapot shop signs.
Sir Peter has promised to bankroll the gallery until 2007. It is not quite clear what happens then.
"It has all cost a great deal more than I expected," he said. "Getting it all done the way you want it done is very difficult."
When the house opened for a trial period five years ago, admission was £1. It will now cost £6 for adults and £2 for children. "I don't see any point in giving it away free," Sir Peter said.
Tulse Luper also cost rather more than expected. Greenaway said it was "a hell of a lot of money, I've never been told how much". In fact, it devoured most of the first year's exhibition budget - more than £250,000.
Greenaway said Tulse Luper had been "born in 1911 in Newport, Gwent, and [is] possibly still alive, aged 92 last year." Or, possibly, Tulse Luper is a complete figment of Greenaway's imagination. "Don't worry too much for now about the name," he said. "Worry about the suitcases."
The curator, John Leslie, certainly does. The suitcases contain dead pigs, skulls, dolls, old letters - 92, of course - tricycles and all the clothes Tulse Luper has ever worn. In the entrance hall to the gallery there is a large block of ice and a live, sleeping woman.
Then there is suitcase eight, kept in a warm gallery because it is also full of electronic gadgetry. Suitcase eight - to suggest Tulse Luper's fondness for red herrings - contains dead fish. It is Mr Leslie's job to decide when the fish have gone beyond being hauntingly evocative and instead become a danger to life on Earth, and replace them: he has bought a freezer-full to last the six months of the installation.
Yesterday's fish were five days old, and getting on nicely. It may or may not be significant that Greenaway's red herrings are mullet.
· Compton Verney, Warwickshire, open from March 27, booking 01926 645541. Peter Greenaway's Tulse Luper will be on display until October.
