This is my chinese medicine cabinet also known as my pride and joy. It is my favorite piece of furniture not only because it is beautiful, but also because I believe it has luck. It is a piece that I would probably never have the gall (and likely, the funds) to buy. As the Lord would have it, however, I received it as a gift from my husband's ex-partner. He had been renting a beautiful loft space in Union Square, which he decorated beautifully with antiques such as these. When he moved out of the space a couple of years ago, he let me choose from three oriental chests. Of them, this was clearly the most beautiful but also the most impractical given its massive size and oddly shaped drawers. The draws are about 5x20x5 inches. Each contains dividers that create four 4x4x4 inch compartments. Though this is a perfect design for chinese medicinal herbs, you'd agree it's the worst possible choice for a typical New Yorker who is always in need of more space. But truly, I have never regretted my decision.
Oh Chinese Medicine Chest, thou whilst be honoured!
For the past couple of months, I have been using this beloved piece of furniture as a vessel for time travel. It is a time capsule project (TCP) in progress, created to commemorate my 8 final months in New York, before I move to Hotlanta.
note: TCP stands for Time Capsule Project. A TCP is what I am calling the personal projects I undertake, for thesis, that aim to understand and illustrate the different properties of time capsules.
What inspired this project is Andy Warhol's Time Capsules. In 1974, Warhol created time capsules that contained the day-to-day items that surrounded him. In his office, he kept an opened brown box that he would gradually filled with items that passed through his hands, including photographs, newspapers, cards, and work receipts. Once the box was filled, he would seal it up, mark it with the date or a title, and ship it off to his warehouse. Up until his death in 1987, he was able to finish 612 boxes.
Based on Warhol's design, I began to wonder whether i could create a similar project. What would the items I touch everyday say about me? I could collect these items over a period of time and then review them at a set time in the future. My only concern was, and still is, that the mundane items of my life would be so incredibly mundane, they would be utterly boring. After all, unlike Andy, I am not a pop celebrity.
Even if we say, for the sake of argument, that I was adopted by the Kardashians and suddenly identifiable by first name, Kristine, I still don't have the advantage of living in Andy's print-rich era. He was showered by postcards, hand-written letters, work orders, carbon copies, flyers, and photographs. Today, all of these items have been replaced by digital media. They no longer exist in our modern world as tactile items. They exist in a fourth dimension.
But I decided to move forward with it anyway. In the end, even if the TCP does not prove anything aesthetically or communicatively, at the very least, I have used my power to move a few mundane items from the past into the future. I used my powers to take control of their destiny... isn't that cool enough?
Instead of explaining the TCP all over again, I am lazily copying/pasting a journal entry I wrote describing it, on March 23, 2011:
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3/23/2011
Where are you now?
On March 1st, I started my own time capsule. I didn’t really define it any real way. It’s more of an organic project as of now. I am using my Chinese medicine cabinet to store what I can throughout the months leading up to my graduation in December: 1) March, (2) April, (3) May, (4) June, (5) July, (6) August, (7) September, (8) October, (9) November.
I will have nine months to gather items for this project. Each drawer represents a month. Each drawer has 4 compartments- each representing a week. Like all time capsules, we have size/space issues. We also can’t put anything in there that will perish.
Like I said, during week one, I really didn’t have a method by any means. I just planned out the timing- to be opened in December or reviewed for this thesis… so in all likelihood, I may only have 8 months. Which is fine. 8 is a symbolically significant number. 8 minutes for the light of the sun to hit the earth. If it were to go out, we wouldn’t begin to feel its affects for 8 minutes. There is a lapse in time here… didn’t think about that did you? Time is defined by space. Scientifically speaking, and as an observable, time doesn’t exist without space.
Anyway, space and preservation is a common problem built into the ideas of time capsules. Another issue is remembering it. Since I have a small amount of time and a singular focus on my thesis these days, it’s not hard for me to remember to ptu stuff in here. However, it also helps that I live in a tiny apartment and the Chinese medicine cabinet is literally located in the center of it. How I came across this cabinet is another story.
Anyway, first week, I began to notice that due to the limits in space, I was very strained in what I could put in there. I was reluctant to collect receipts and other types of archaic trash (especially archaic in today’s digital age). But it was too soon to judge whether such articles would be telling later on. I also stayed away from pristine artifacts b/c in addition to the item itself, I wanted it to tell an additional story with its use pattern.
I also told myself that I wouldn’t review the contents until the very end. I expect that in the end, the gestalt of each month will come through and tell me a lot about my approach from month to month. Perhaps even week to week. I also want to keep the project as natural as I can without much editing. I don’t want it to feel contrived in the end.
I’ve noticed that it is hard to come by items that are worth saving or seem to tbe case. But maybe I should get away from this idea because as I learn and reflect more upon time capsules, I realize that they are somewhat interpretive. This is a just a project for myself- no need ot formalize the message… I know my audience. I know for the most part what will evoke my future emotion and/or not. But who knows?
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I like your blog. :)
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