Time Capsule: Part 2

Going into this assignment, I knew I wanted my time capsule to be representative of all of my objects and what they all mean to me. In order to create a time capsule that could do this, I needed to think about the entire collection of objects that I curated, and think of an emotion that they evoke. I began doodling a mind map of words, phrases, and feelings that my objects inspired in me.

After this process, there was one word on the mind map that stuck out to me: learning. Each of the items that I chose to include in my time capsule represented a time in my life where I was actively learning something about myself, my environment, and/or my personal goals. Their collective periods of education have resulted in me being the person I am today, knowing what I like and don’t, what I want to do, and who I want to be. I knew that whatever object I held my objects in would need to capture the feeling of growth through learning.

I began to think of what containers are associated with learning; backpacks, cubbies, desks and things of that nature came to mind. I wanted the time capsule I created, however, to be something I made from scratch. Finally, I had the idea to create a locker. Students use lockers at school to hold their important belongings, and I felt like that would be a perfect container for my time capsule objects. I began to sketch how my locker should look:

After I was happy with the sketches of my locker, I began to look around my apartment for empty boxes, which I felt would be a perfect base for my time capsule. I found a few:

But as I held my box cutter and imagined what the final product could look like, I decided against using a physical box. I wanted the final product to look finished and well executed (after feedback from my endangered animal assignment) and I knew that there was not much I could do about making a physical cardboard box look finished without paint or any type of decoration. This sent me back to the drawing board.

I wanted to create a 3D object, but I didn’t have all of the tools that I needed to create something by hand that would look polished. This lack of physical materials encouraged me to move towards the digital realm: I decided to try creating my locker in a 3D modeling engine. I decided to use Unity because that is the platform that I am the most comfortable in. I knew that I could manipulate the colors, lighting, and even background to create a locker that would best fit my time capsule objects.

I created my locker in Unity, and took a few pictures of it in different locations. I’ve included a few of the pictures I took, including a picture of the locker in a city scape. This picture is meaningful because many of the items I’ve chosen to include in my time capsule have location specific meaning, most of the locations being major cities (New York, London, Atlanta). The other pictures I’ve included are of the locker in space, which to me symbolizes how my lessons have all been given to my by the Universe; I’ve ended up in so many situations by chance that have taught me very meaningful lessons.

Although I won’t be able to physically store my items in my time capsule, I think this was the best way for me to build it. My time capsule is polished, my favorite color, and omnipresent in a way that I feel reflects the ‘learning’ that each of my objects represents.