DIY Time Capsules

My latest Art Project…

It’s a Time-Capsule filled up with all the things that might come in handy one day, but which so far haven’t.

This is just one of them – I’ve got about a cubic metre of this stuff. Me and junk go back a long way.

I made an instructional video… which went quite well I think.

So I know what you’re thinking – you’re thinking that what you’ve done is made one more thing to clutter yourself up with…. but it’s like a debt-consolidation loan. It’s keeping all this stuff in a single place. It makes sense. You know it does.

And it’s an heirloom see? It’s probably not worth all that much now, but I’d dearly love to have one that my Grandfather put together – and a 200 year old box of things that might come in handy one day? That would be excellent – from an artistic and historical point of view, as well as an ongoing, trans-generational joke.

This was inspired in part by Bruce Sterlings famous talk up in Denmark a while back.

In the latter part he talks about reducing your possessions – streamlining your life – taking everything you don’t really use, documenting it, then selling it on eBay.

But I’d like to take that one step further – instead of documenting it and selling it on eBay, why not document it, put it in a time capsule then send it to Bruce Sterling?

He’d like that…. If the entire Internet sent him thousands and thousands of clear perspex boxes of things that might come in handy one day, but so far haven’t. It would be our way of saying thank you.

He could build an igloo out of them and sit inside it, humming to self, and typing limericks on a typewriter like this

(from)

or this, but with a lot more keys.

A LOT more keys.

Mind you he does move around a lot – and maybe that’s why. Otherwise people would be constantly sending him their… “might come in handy one day” stuff. It’s hard to say.

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I’ve already promised mine to Lupita though – so he’ll have to wait until I do another one.

The plans for them are here – but you probably need to make the slots a bit narrower. I’m going to get another one made – but using a water-jet cutter rather than a laser cutter.

This is Lupita

She’s wearing cycling gear.