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What Is Going in This Amber-Coated Time Capsule Not to Be Opened for 1 Million Years?

Dec. 24, 2012 3:05pm

While traces of other civilizations are left behind and unearthed hundreds and thousands of years later by archaeologists, one artist is planting a time-capsule specifically made for someone in the future to find — far in the future.

Choosing 18 artists — whether they specialists in the written word, photography, architecture or mathematics – John Paul Robinson, a Canadian artist himself, is creating a replica of each of their works on a ceramic disk, casing it in resin and placing it in a wooden box that will be put in the ground come spring.

Amber Archive Project to Fossilize Artwork on Ceramic Discs Placed in a Capsule to Be Found in the Future

(Image: Amber Archive)

In an interview with TheBlaze, Robinson said this isn’t the sort of time capsule to be opened in the next 50 years or even the next 100. He’s shooting for at least 1 million years in the future, when the resin will have fossilized into amber. Hence the name for the Amber Archive Art Project, which Robinson’s website describes as “reverse archaeology.”

“Most people respond to the project with a sense of humor and a sense of magic and joy,” Robinson said.

But when you think about the project on a deeper level, it’s a bit heavier.

“[It deals with] ideas of extinction, evolution and the ultimate state of the universe, which is daunting stuff,” he said. “But it bypasses a lot of that initially by being fun.”

For example, one of the artists featured in this inaugural year of the time capsule project is photographer François Brunelle. Brunelle recently made some waves on the Web for his portraits of unrelated lookalikes.

Amber Archive Project to Fossilize Artwork on Ceramic Discs Placed in a Capsule to Be Found in the Future

(Image: Francois Brunelle/Amber Archive)

The above image is a look at what will be copied onto ceramic for the time capsule, but you can find more of Brunelle’s doppelganger photos here.

There are specialized printers that will replicate scanned images almost perfectly onto the ceramic pieces. Robinson doesn’t make the discs himself, but receives them, coats them in resin and puts them in the wooden capsule he made, which will eventually break down in the ground leaving the resin to fossilize.

These are a few other images that will be put onto the discs and into the capsule:

Amber Archive Project to Fossilize Artwork on Ceramic Discs Placed in a Capsule to Be Found in the Future

This excerpt from the atomic opera Shelter by composer and librettist Juliet Palmer premiered at Edmonton Opera/Tapestry New Opera in November 2012. (Image: Amber Archive)

Amber Archive Project to Fossilize Artwork on Ceramic Discs Placed in a Capsule to Be Found in the Future

This disc image holds excerpts from the “Collection of Aphorisms” by the Buddha and “Celebrating the Guru” by Panchen Lobsang Choegyen. They were inscribed by Thupten Jinpa, an English translator for the Dalai Lama. (Image: Amber Archive)

Amber Archive Project to Fossilize Artwork on Ceramic Discs Placed in a Capsule to Be Found in the Future

This image by Cheryl Atkinson shows the architectural renderings of a spiral staircase at the Long Island Sound House in Westport, Conn. (Image: Amber Archive)

Amber Archive Project to Fossilize Artwork on Ceramic Discs Placed in a Capsule to Be Found in the Future

Painter and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson’s painting on wood titled “I need to know where we’re at”. (Image: Amber Archive)

Here’s more about the Amber Archive’s process:

To take advantage of this remarkable natural process, the Amber Time Capsule is designed to replicate nature as faithfully as possible. The capsules are made from turned sections of pine logs. The objects to be preserved are encased in pine resin and placed in the capsules. Once the capsules are full they are capped with a pine top and sealed with resin. The wooden capsules are then placed in a geologically appropriate site, leaving their fate to geology and time.

[...]

Participants are also invited to submit a larger selection of work and material they would like included in the archive. This extended archival material will be loaded onto a flash-drive. The flash-drive itself will be sealed in the capsule along with their ceramic disk. The content of the flash-drives is available on the Amber Archive website.

In addition to including artwork, Robinson invited some attendees at a large art festival to contribute a DNA sample via a couple strands of hair, which would be put inside the time capsule. Now this gave people pause, Robinson said.

“The look on their face was like ‘Do I really want to send my DNA into the future?’” Robinson said. “It was interesting to see people react like that. It was fun to watch their face change as they began to become aware of the personal implications.”

Robinson intends for the Amber Archive project to become an annual affair. Who will decide next year’s participants? To keep the representative art as objective as possible, the previous year’s participants will choose the following artwork to go into the time capsule. Robinson said he’ll continue to facilitate the process, having the art made into ceramic discs, casing them in resin and planting the time capsule in the ground.

One more thing you might be wondering is where these capsules are being buried to carry out their fossilization process with the hope that they’ll be found in the future? Robinson said the location is a secret because he doesn’t want them to be sought out before the amber has formed. He assured us that it’s an area suitable for fossilization.

See more of the Amber Archive participants here.

Featured image via Shutterstock.com. 

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Comments (47)

1 2
  • Brents Torts
    Posted on December 25, 2012 at 5:54pm

    Whatever, as long as I don’t have to pay for it.

    Report this comment

    Brents Torts  
  • Mustanger
    Posted on December 25, 2012 at 4:59pm

    While riding way off the beaten path, I found 36 Hamm’s bottles. The ones shaped like little kegs. I put them in my saddlebags and used them for homemade mead. I gave them out and watching people’s face light up in nostalgia was priceless.

    Report this comment

    Mustanger  
  • strats
    Posted on December 25, 2012 at 4:07pm

    When somebody takes my money, I trust them.
    I was raised in public school.
    Put that sentiment in a time capsule.

    Report this comment

    strats  
  • TheePolitinator
    Posted on December 25, 2012 at 6:10am

    Some friends and I buried a few capsules, explaining what happened to America post World War III. How it happened and the bloodlines responsible. We also had a professional book printed with every single bit of agenda 21 and the Federal Reserve mafia. All the politicians and the corruption. Every single bit from 9/11 to now is carefully outlined. Took a couple of years to put it together. If you are gonna bury a time capsule at least make it actuality not some idiotic view from obvious sheep.

    Report this comment

    TheePolitinator  
  • Protech64
    Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:30am

    Why does the Blaze find crap like this worthy of space on its web site ?

    Report this comment

    Protech64  
  • Whitehouse Mouse
    Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:57am

    Great. So now the cockroaches that rule the earth in the future will think we’re a nation that died out from stupidity.

    Report this comment

    Whitehouse Mouse  
    • GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
      Posted on December 25, 2012 at 2:54am

      In 1 million years:

      Supersized cockroach #1: Hey! Look what I found! A box full of human crap!

      Supersized cockroach #2: Yea! It seems made by those bugs called humans…some roaches say they are our ancestors and used to live here, but I sincerely don’t believe in evolution…

      Report this comment

      GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas  
  • Cat_Ion
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 10:49pm

    How about copies of the Constitution and Agenda 21.
    How we got from here to there,

    Report this comment

    Cat_Ion  
    • YAHSHUARULES
      Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:17am

      One of the things on the Communist Agenda to destroy America by driving the culture is a direction designed to destroy it was:
      22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
      Along with:

      21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
      23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
      24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
      25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
      26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”

      do you know who Fabians (with logo of wolf in sheep’s clothing), Frankfurt School, Antonio Gramsci, Mattechine Society, Alinksi (who dedicated his book “Rules for Radicals to Lucifer), Committees of Correspondence are? Connect all the dots
      All part of the Agenda to create an America so corrupt it stinks and to drive this culture in a direction designed to destroy it. If you don’t know all this you need to find out!
      This is the most comprehensive, best movie I have seen pulling all this together. Watch it. Share it.
      https://vimeo.com/52009124

      Report this comment

      YAHSHUARULES  
  • Pogue
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 10:34pm

    I have placed many “time capsuels” containing many period items, nothing that has any value collectively, but provides a glimpse into the time when put together.
    I layer the weather protections with Bronze, tar, concrete, and other stuff I won’t disclose. I put them in places where few humans would go.
    Some I have tried to locate years after placement, even a good metal detector doesn’t send a report, that was the goal and test upon placement.
    Maybe Another form, or lineage of Human may find them in the distant future. Who knows? They may just become part of the geologic record that no human ever sees again.

    Report this comment

    Pogue  
    • Whitehouse Mouse
      Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:01am

      I have a set of car keys I’m looking for that may be part of that experiment. They sure are not where I left them.

      Report this comment

      Whitehouse Mouse  
  • taintso
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 9:50pm

    Should have put in ‘Obama in pee pee’ and pictures of of the Philly flash mobs with their pants on the floor. you know things we can be proud of.

    Report this comment

    taintso  
  • Guitarcarl
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 7:51pm

    Sure lets waste a bunch of time and money on something truly narcissistic and useless. As if we have nothing in all of human creation that would be better to offer future generations than a lot of crap.

    Report this comment

    Guitarcarl  
    • strats
      Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:58pm

      I found an old clay, possibly plaster of paris figurine at an old school site.
      My imagination upon finding that piece saved me from spending a million years wondering how the government would waste my money.
      A couple of cops descended upon me and asked, What do you have there?
      I said’ Nothing’. They found my bottle caps and pull tabs, but hair of the dog, they didn’t find my chewing tobacco.

      Report this comment

      strats  
  • AmericanStrega
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 6:48pm

    Maybe I missed it, but if there are still people in 1 million years and by chance it is found, how will the future people be able to retrive what’s on the disk? If what we believe to be hi-tech today is below low-tech 1 million years from now, how in heck will anyone know what the heck this disk is and how will they retrieve the data? They’ll probably send it to their “lab” and deem it fecal matter from a primitive era. Hmmmm, they would probably be right.

    Report this comment

    AmericanStrega  
    • Wolf
      Posted on December 24, 2012 at 7:32pm

      Actually, the real reason for the items being put in amber is to see if they can become living organisms in the interim, thereby proving evolution.

      Report this comment

      Wolf  
    • AmericanStrega
      Posted on December 24, 2012 at 7:38pm

      Wolf, So if the items don’t become living organisms does that mean evolution doesn’t exists? W

      Report this comment

      AmericanStrega  
  • garylee123
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 6:11pm

    How about a copy of “A Canticle for Lebowitz”?

    Report this comment

    garylee123  
  • ICANHANDLETHETRUTH
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 6:00pm

    The left should be putting an apology letter in this time capsule, they could talk about how they destroy EVERYTHING they touch, and how they thought man kind was too stupid to live from cradle to grave. And a short poem telling how they decieved the American people with the power of tevevision and propaganda [ that would be a 5 pager ] they could talk about how they re-elected their lord and saviour Obama, and how they destroyed the economy, by dividing the people to the haves and have nots, and in its place they have communism. And maybe a short letter from the bankers as to how they ripped off the world right under their noses !!!! I bet the people of the future will think…….. ” Why did they let them get away with it ” ??????????

    Report this comment

    ICANHANDLETHETRUTH  
  • Paulhgreenbay
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 5:11pm

    Neat, put in a picture of conjoined twins joined at the head. -sarcasm off-

    Report this comment

    Paulhgreenbay  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 4:31pm

    At least he’s not including a piece of the infamous “stained blue dress”. God help the planet a million years from now if Clinton could be cloned.

    Report this comment

    KickinBack  
    • taintso
      Posted on December 24, 2012 at 10:50pm

      We raise beef here and there a plenty of Clinton clones in the pasture.

      Report this comment

      taintso  
  • Isis79
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 4:22pm

    How can any human be so naive to think our species will last for a million years? Seems to me the way things are going mankind has about 1000 years left at best.

    Report this comment

    Isis79  
    • mtsnj
      Posted on December 24, 2012 at 5:31pm

      and that’s pushing it..maybe 250 years left at this rate

      Report this comment

      mtsnj  
    • DIR
      Posted on December 24, 2012 at 6:23pm

      If the time capsule has Barry’s dna, and humans are still around in a million years, and they try to recreate him, if he hasn’t already finished us off. his clone will make sure of it.

      Report this comment

      DIR  
  • Big Media Bias
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 4:22pm

    My former outhouse holes have evergreen resin from when I covered them with bark. People of the future will know everything about Obama and Democrats from this time period.

    Report this comment

    Big Media Bias  
  • breakobamanow
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 4:21pm

    Jesus said in Matthew 24:35
    Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

    Revelation 21:1
    And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

    It won’t survive period.

    Report this comment

    breakobamanow  
  • kickagrandma
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 4:10pm

    This administration?

    Report this comment

    kickagrandma  
  • ChiefGeorge
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 4:08pm

    What no naked renditions or portraits?

    Report this comment

    ChiefGeorge  
  • breakobamanow
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 3:55pm

    Romans 1:18-22
    For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
    Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
    For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
    Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
    Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

    Report this comment

    breakobamanow  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 3:48pm

    “See more of the Amber Archive participants here.”
    ========================================
    Did anyone else click on that link and watch the wacky, drug-induced, hippy-flower-girl video?

    Report this comment

    Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • Tri-ox
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 3:37pm

    The collection is quite unimpressive – this project hardly seems worth the effort.

    Report this comment

    Tri-ox  
    • DREDGE
      Posted on December 24, 2012 at 4:40pm

      I wonder what this piece of crap will cost us!!!!!
      I would love to see the next generation of caveman thats finds this crap and just tosses it in the fire!!!

      Report this comment

      DREDGE  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 3:22pm

    “…placing it in a wooden box that will be put in the ground…”

    “He’s shooting for at least 1 million years in the future….”

    Methinks he needs to rethink a few things….

    Report this comment

    The-Monk  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on December 24, 2012 at 5:08pm

      Hi MONK, Yeah, I was wondering how he expects that resin to completely fossilize instead of eventually seeping away.

      Report this comment

      RJJinGadsden  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on December 24, 2012 at 3:19pm

    Well, if artists get to pick what goes in it, the people in the future will wonder how we survived in such a perverted society.

    Report this comment

    Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
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