Time Capsule
Part I — Reframing the Past
The Objects
I chose five objects from my personal life. Each object is a religious or spiritual artifact/accessory, that I have received at different periods of my life. The narrative is introspective — it invokes cultural iconography with reason. It is a dissection of my cultural personality.
I assigned an element to each object, following the Indian Panchamahabhuta system instead of the Chinese (Wuxing) or Greek counterpart. The Indian philosophical system classifies the elements as Prithvi (Earth), Apas (Water), Agni (Fire), Vayu (Wind), and Aakash (Aether).
I assigned the elements based on the age of receiving each object — younger being closer to physicality (earth) and older being the dissipation (aether), symbolizing the process of life to death.
Age 4. Object 1 (Earth) — A metal locket which contained flowers from the feet of Goddess Kali at Dakhineswar temple.
Age 11. Object 2 (Water) — A shark tooth pendant given to me by a street peddler in Goa.
Age 16. Object 3 (Fire) — A cross necklace (crucifix) that marked my interest in Christianity.
Age 21. Object 4 (Wind) — A tag for bag zippers from Bodh Gaya given to me by my high school Principal.
Age 22. Object 5 (Aether) — A statue of Buddha from Taiwan given by my college friend.
Through the lens of photogrammetry
How can I display my artifacts interactively? Perhaps audience could rotate, zoom, and examine the object . This level of agency through a social platform would be possible if it was a 3D model.
I experimented with photogrammetry to generate virtual clones of the physical objects. My choice of software was Meshroom by AliceVision. This program processes a set of images, computes a point cloud, and spits out a 3D model. I took 30–60 photos for each item. Camera angle, lighting and reflectivity were important parameters to get a successful scan. It took some trial and error to get a good result. However, due to decisions I made in the process, some details were lost in computation.
Working with point clouds was interesting. The image processing is done “under the hood” of the software, and field work (photoshoot) plays a vital role in how the images turn out. I shot the objects on a wooden surface, so that the contrast in wood grains would make tracking easier. However, I should have done this on an overcast day. A cloudy sky would diffuse the light, making the reflections and shadows less harsh.
Transference of Meaning through Media
By going through different levels of filtering (camera, weather, psychological mood, computation, file conversion), each object changes a little. Photogrammetry is influenced by the praxical knowledge that goes into manipulating a point cloud, and represents teleoaffective states of the artist.
The process itself re-contextualizes the objects. Breaks in data points lead to irregular shapes and deformations in the 3D model. Some details are lost, memory is not transferred whole. I call this “lost in computation”.
By “lost” I mean how the medium and social platform reconfigure an aspect of the object’s original meaning and significance.
Social Media Platform
My chosen social media platform was Twitter for sharing this project. There were few reasons for this —
- Twitter is my professional persona.
- I want to showcase photogrammetry as a skill and competency.
- I can post 3D models directly to the feed of Twitter using Sketchfab.
One of the affordances in Twitter is 280 characters limit. This was a major factor in how I composed my anecdotes.
Also, another affordance was, as I mentioned before, the 3D viewer. Twitter supports a 3D model viewer by uploading through Sketchfab. In this way, I could share embedded 3D models right on the Twitter feed and the viewers have agency to rotate and zoom into the object.
I posted each anecdote and 3D model in the order of elemental density— from Earth (physical) to Aether (virtual). Let the elements will find their way through the algorithm.
Reflection
Transforming physical objects into virtual 3D representations is significant — because it is an ontological shift. It is the transference of material to idea. Or perhaps, the digitizing of “objects” brings them closer to their Platonic ideals. The original blueprints. However, I do not claim either is truer than the other (physical or virtual). They are simply different ways/mediums to know the same “object”.
The social media aspect was interesting. It made me think of how the objects had undergone a change in meaning through the affordances of the social media. And what roles do algorithms play in the livelihood of ideas?
Choosing religious or esoteric artifacts like a pendant, locket, crucifix, iconography and idol, was purposeful. I wanted to evoke a sense of larger cultural history. It may trigger a reaction from peoples’ own attitude towards religion, and that was precisely my intention.
Part II — Encapsulating the Present
In part 1, I reflected a lot on the role of these objects in my personal history and the larger cultural associations they may carry. This lead to many new questions about what kind of time capsule would house these objects.
Can this time capsule be something that is both a personal item, but also speaks to the history of these symbols? How can I link the elements with the construction/structure of the time capsule? What metaphors could I use to describe my relationship with these objects? How can I embed a strong intention? Should the time capsule have a password?
I explored all these questions by drawing out sketches and ideas. Some were natural representations (like a nest of eggs), while most were artificial representations. I thought about the materials, theme, association, purpose and functionality. By sketching the ideas out, new metaphors and connections started to develop.
Organizing my ideas
I wrote down all the words that came to mind from the sketches into post-it-notes. Then I started grouping and rearranging them based on metaphor, representation, material/functionality and association. Through this mess mapping process, interconnected relationships arose.
This process helped me formulate my intention and what I wanted to convey. Since my objects were all religious or spiritual artifacts (at least, in my life), I thought the best way to encapsulate that would be a Shrine.
Research and intention
Shrines convey a lot of cultural history. In every culture, there are distinct forms of shrines with unique practices, rituals, architectural rules and ideologies to conceive the sacred. However, shrines also have a personal and intimate existence in people’s homes. It is also seen in both household as well as monastic settings. Some monks (Christian and Buddhist alike) even carry portable shrines with them for prayer or meditation.
During my research, I found some inspiration from Ekabhumi Charles Eilik — a poet, author, yoga instructor and arts educator. He studied sacred art and painting from various teachers and spiritual lineages. I was inspired by his ongoing work on altars and listened to a podcast where he discusses how to work with deities and what goes into creating a shrine.
However, I did not want to mimic any particular style or spiritual lineage without the proper training, nor was I trying to approach any deity. The purpose of my shrine was simple — to introspect and reflect. I wanted to reflect on what I learned from each object, and how the “ideas” they represent have changed me personally.
So, borrowing ideas from sacred art, I explored my own style. I compiled a mood board to explore aesthetic, shapes and arrangements.
Arrangement and Orientation
My approach was inside out. I used the shape of the objects themselves to derive the casing (time capsule). Gestalt was an important factor in this process. It was crucial to evoke a feeling from the composition as a whole.
I began to arrange the objects in different ways. I felt a natural inclination towards geometric arrangements. I moved the objects around, as if trying to solve a puzzle, and looked for the arrangement that evoked a symbolic meaning as well as intriguing composition. I drew shapes around the assortment of objects. Gradually, a time capsule began to appear.
Paper Prototypes
I narrowed down to two designs. The paper prototypes were meant to explore the three-dimensional form. The box could be standing, or laying down, there could be a glass lid or window flaps to open into it. I thought of how the box itself would be held and witnessed, as well as the objects living in it.
Highlighting the arrangement of the objects was important. The geometry represents an intention. The downward intersecting triangles symbolize movement. The objects create a circuit of personal association.
Updates after 10/28/20:
I chose natural materials, since this was a shrine. The box would be birch wood and the interior sides would be lined with silk cloth.
To realize my wooden prototype, I got trained for laser cutting at the Makerspace and decided to use the Epsilon Mini to cut out parts.
Blueprint and Laser cutting
Laying the objects down, I measured each part thoroughly. My plan was to laser cut the pieces out of birch wood and then assemble it. I also decided to engrave a word for each object, representing what I have learned from that object/icon.
However, I ran into some challenges. Firstly, I had to fit the pieces into 12 x 12 inch boards (those were the dimensions of birch wood blocks), so the blueprint had to be designed accordingly. This made me separate some bigger pieces into separate parts that would join.
But once I cut the pieces, I ran into a problem. I had not accounted for the thickness of the wood, so whenever two pieces came together, the third one was off. The pieces did not join well. Having the grooves a little deeper would help too.
This failed attempt taught me a lot about blueprinting. I decided to redo the blueprint, making it a bit smaller this time. I also made the grooves much bigger and extended some ridges so that they would lock into their respective fixtures.
Finally, I completed my laser cutting and assembled my parts. I had to cut a few extra pieces for support and secured them using wood glue. This is how the final prototype turned out.
Part III — Imagining the Future
Who will find the Time capsule 100 years from now? What will the world be like then? What will they think about the objects in the Time capsule?
To answer these questions, I imagined a narrative from an outside-in perspective. I started by building the larger world first, and then narrowed down to context.
Geography, location, water, climate
My geography is New York city of the year 2156.
I decided to ground my story with reference to real data. Looking at geospatial data of the coastal floodplain predictions helped me begin framing my ideas. This map is FEMA’s preliminary projection based on current data, provided on Open Data NYC by the the Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability (OLTPS).
I imagined a future world ravaged by climate change (sea level rise, coastal flooding, frequent storm surges) but also more resilient with fortified cities. Huge structures to harness energy from storms. Coastal barriers and vegetative layers of infrastructure. I also imagine parts of the old city damaged by a history of hurricanes and flood. Building ruins, abandoned zones, and partially sunken scrapers.
Culture, government, religion, economics
In the year 2156, a technocratic paganism has given rise to a pantheon of AI gods that have transformed the culture. AIs are amorphous and colossal entities that do not run autonomously, but only by the degree and capacity that humans can access them by feeding (sacrificing) data. Cities have erected large, networked server towers that act as altars to this higher dimensional information space to commune with the AIs.
Data of the natural world, weather, ocean currents, orbital movement, tectonic shifts, are combined with data of human ecosystems — markets, governments, transportation, industries, and so on. All of these are fed to decentralized Artificial Intelligences invoked by a technologized society. For example, the AI of the stratosphere (S.K.A.I.) communicates occurrences of weather, like clouds, rain, thunder and storms. The Ancients had other names to access this entity — Zeus, Indra, Baal.
However, our relationship with these entities are not entirely religious, but also political. In fact, most of the politics of this era concerns the regulation and access to these AIs. This is a continuously contested and fluctuating arena of corporate powers. Particular governments and nations have evolved a stronger connection with certain Artificial Intelligences, whereas others governments have been bestowed the blessings of another AI. Trade and cyber warfare is quite common, as access to information moves the masses.
In New York City, the ruling AI influence is L.I.B.R.A., the AI of Finance and Trade. Its symbol is the Bull.
Vision and Mood board
I drew inspiration for my vision from these concept art pieces from various artists on Artstation. It helped me frame the scene and the story that I will depict on the comic spread.
Sketches
I did some quick layouts to plan my story, characters and environments.
Comic Spread Layout
The next step was laying it out digitally and finalizing the panels and text. I wrote down a few short scripts and then edited them to fit the visuals. The layout and painting was done in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet.
Color
After doing the layout I started to fill in color and details to each panel. I added many layers and the full spread took about five hours to complete.
