Zeitkapsula 2009-2041

2009

 
From the 27th to the 31st of July we run one of the four “Summer Labs”, which every year are organised by the Museion – Museum of modern and contemporary art of Bozen-Bolzano .
With a group of 17 children, aged between 8 and 10, we built a time capsule which at the end of the week was stored in the underground archive of the museum. The wooden box will stay there for 32 years, a number which was democratically decided by the children. The capsule contains different kinds of works produced during the week by the ‘time agents’. These drawings, letters, photos and audio recordings represent a reflection on their present universe and on their hopes and fears about the future. On Wednesday, the 31st of July 2041 we will all gather at the museum again in order to open the capsule and have a party. Which means that the box will be re-opened…

in 16 years, 9 months, 19 days, 16 hours, 11 minutes, 35 seconds

We also submitted the Zeitkapsula to the on-line archive of the ITCS, the International Time Capsule Society .

The first day we asked our friend Roberto Gigliotti to dress up like a scientist for the presentation of the project to the kids. The aim of this was to build up a story around the creation of the time capsule. Dr. Gigliotti, an astronomer and the Italian representative of the International Time Capsule Society, told the children that he discovered a message that was somehow sent to us from the humans of the future. The message says that a lot of information about Bozen-Bolzano will get lost and that only through a time capsule these information can be delivered to the people of the future. Thus, he nominated the children ‘time agents’ and gave them the task of gathering impressions, thoughts and data about the present.

A big thank you to Barbara Campaner and Nicole Bergamo from the educational program of Museion for their support during the week and to Roberto Gigliotti for his great performance as scientist.