NEWS
19 april 2013
TIMECAPSULE
A couple of months ago we were asked by Greenpeace to design a indestructible, inert non-toxic time capsule, with the names of nearly three million arctic defenders in it, planted on the seabed below the north pole. Also known as Aurora, Save the Arctic Project. Initiated by Greenpeace, to create awareness about the dangers of Arctic oil drilling, industrial fishing and conflicts.
On april 7, 2013 a team of 16 arctic defenders went to the North Pole to declare it protected on behalf of all life on earth. Once the team arrives, they’ll plant a flag for the future on the seabed and a time capsule with the names of all arctic defenders who signed the petition.
The first two cassettes laser engraved the signatures of 2.7 million Arctic defenders on glass, so small you need a microscope to magnify 100 times to be able to read it. For this we used a high tech nanoform technology, also used in signs at nuclear burial places. The third is an illustration of how much the sea ice has reseeded between 1979 and the historic sea ice minimum of 2012. The fourth and fifth included a political declaration of the arctic protection.
Credit: Michiel van Abbe
The sixth holds the names of the 16 members of team Aurora. The seventh cassette holds a microscope to read the first two discs, and a USB stick with all the names written on 4500 pdf’s. And finally, in the eight cassette, the satin flag for the future, the same design as the titanium flag that sits atop the capsule. All cassettes are seawater resistant and should be still readable in 10.000 years. The anchor is made of iron. Iron is ever present in the environment of the Arctic seabed. The glass sphere and titanium frame have positive buoyancy, so they float above the anchor, hovering just over the anchor in the Arctic Ocean.
After many years, in roughly 2050, the iron will rust, and the capsule will surface. By this time we’ll know how humans have responded to the threat to climate change.
Credit: Anita Star
