Colony Little, Culture Shock Art

Andy Warhol was notorious for many things, but you may not know that one of them was his “Time Capsules”.  The artist would collect ephemera, art, and other inspirational items used as source material for his work. The items were boxed, catalogued and archived for a subsequent unveiling.  He began boxing these capsules in 1974, and they went virtually undiscovered until after his passing in 1987.  The Warhol Museum has been unveiling the Time Capsules as part of it’s “Out of the Box” program where full time cataloguers manage the archiving and documenting of the contents of over 617 capsules created by the artist.

This unique live unveiling was just posted by the Museum and it is a fascinating glimpse into the artist’s life.
 

For Information Science nerds, voyeurs and fans of the artist, this footage is fascinating.  It got me thinking about my own time capsule.  If I had to create one for 2012, what would I put in it?  Limiting myself to 5 items (including Art, Food Fashion and Music) that sum up 2012 here’s what they would be:

1.  My “Keep Calm and Listen to Hip Hop” shirt. Because, let’s face it, we just can’t get enough of the many iterations of Keep Calm can we?

2.  Yayoi Kusama Dots.  Had I purchased a piece from the Yayoi Kusama Louis Vuitton handbag collection, I’d include the box and a piece of the gift wrapped tissue paper (mais non, not the bag!).  Why?  I just think Yayoi Kusama had a fantastic year.  She hit the cultural trifecta in 2012 (Whitney and Tate retrospectives in addition to the LV collab)

3.  The only person that had a bigger year than Yayoi Kusama was probably Psy, so I probably would have to include a copy of “Gangam Style”, just for laughs.  But jokes aside, my musical contribution would be the first album my husband produced this year.  I was really proud of it.

4.  And in the inanimate realm, the only “thing” that had a bigger year than Psy is KALE.  Kale was EVERYWHERE in 2012.  I’d include a bag of dried Kale Chips that would probably disintegrate into a green pile of dust…Or maybe I would include a can of Warhol designed Campbell’s Tomato Soup from Target, just for the irony of it all.

5.  Lastly, I would include a copy of Newsweek.  After 79 years the magazine will discontinue it’s print version.  The poignancy of that decision is quite sobering. To include a magazine in an antiquated conceptual relic such as a time capsule seems befitting.  I can’t help but wonder if the “digital” versions of time capsules will capture the same sense of mystery, excitement and wonder as the old ones do.

What about you? If you could capture the essence of 2012 in a time capsule, what would you put in your box?  

I’d love to hear from you!