American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

Capturing Time: The New York Times Capsule (Exhibition)
birth: 1999 December 4
death: 2000 March 26
Exhibition. Opened December 4, 1999 and closed March 26, 2000. Located on Floor 2 in the Akeley Gallery at the American Museum of Natural History. Capturing Time: The New York Times Capsule featured The New York Times Capsule and explored concepts of time and the history of time capsules.
Summary
Capturing Time: The New York Times Capsule featured the New York Times Capsule and explored concepts of time and the history of time capsules. The New York Times Capsule, which was commissioned by the New York Times and installed in the plaza of the Museum’s Weston Pavillion, was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Craig Morris, Senior Vice President and Dean of Science at the Museum, curated the exhibition. Selected in an international competition launched by New York Times Magazine, Calatrava’s 5’ x 5’ x 5’ sculpture of welded stainless steel was designed to resemble a flower. The capsule was designed to preserve key artifacts representing life in the late 20th century with plans to be opened in the year 3000 (1; 2).
Sections in the exhibition were (1, p. 2-6):
*Introduction
*What is Time?: Time and the Universe, Time and Biology, Time and Civilization, Encapsulating Time
*Notable Entries in the Competition: Antenna Design New York, Inc. (U.S.); Caples Jefferson Architects (U.S.); Cooper Union (U.S.); Kenji Ekuan, GK Design Group (Japan); Wes Jones (U.S.); Jaron Lanier (U.S.); Maya Lin (U.S.); Jurgen Bey for Droog Design (Netherlands); Ocean (Finland, Norway, Germany); Dagmar Richter (Germany); Pentagram (U.S.); Greg Lynn & Jeffrey Kipnis (U.S.); Morphosis (U.S.)
*Santiago Calatrava
*Contents of the Times Capsule
Highlights in the Contents of the Times Capsule included (1, p. 6):
*The six millennium issues of the New York Times Magazine, one set printed on archival acid-free paper and the other on an HD-Rosetta data disc from NORSAM Technologies
*Solid nickel LP recording with excerpts from popular songs, daily sounds, and five one-minute audio portraits of New York City sounds recorded at 9:09 am on September 9, 1999
Other items on display included (1, p. 6-7):
*A soccer jersey and bottle of sweet water from Brazil
*An Armed Forces Purple Heart
*A cellphone
*A beeper
*A Beanie Baby
*A piece of barbed wire
*A ceremonial chair from Zimbabwe
*A vial of penicillin
*A parking ticket from France
*Section 17 of the Indian Constitution abolishing untouchability
Two New York Times computer stations allowed visitors to enter their own suggestions for items to be included in the Times Capsule (1, p. 7).
The exhibition was designed and executed by the Museum’s Department of Exhibition under the direction of Vice President for Exhibition, David Harvey. Key exhibition and design services were provided by Gerhard Schlanzky, Eric Janssen, Jayne Hertko, Lauri Halderman, Robert Vinci, Nancy Falkin, Frank Rasor, Deborah Barral, and Steve Warsavage (1, p. 7).
This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.