Quoting the motto of a famous storage company: Get . More . When . You . Store !
(quote above from the official Time Capsule website - see link below)
Andy Warhol perfectly knew how to create value through his work. Indeed, this boxes he started filling since 1974 where first meant to be merely storage of Andy's stuff, during the relocations he went through.
The boxes were filled with many objects, letters, invitations to events, books, but also receipts, tax forms, legal papers, bills. Anything that could fit in the box was ready to be stored.
Lately, Andy thought to sell them. According to the TC21 project website, he was thinking of selling them closed, with just a picture on them, the content to be discovered by the client only after the purchase.
All those boxes were never sold and remained closed for years. In 2007, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh started a program of cataloguing for each box. It's a six-years founded project that will end soon, considering that almost all the boxes have been opened and archived.
A skilled team is working on them with care and dedication. Even the most little piece found in the boxes is catalogued according to one of the 22 categories created for this project. There is no "miscellaneous" and it was difficult, in some cases, find the right category for certain stuff. There is also a category called "mother".
The Museum has recently started opening them in public, finding with the attendees what Andy stored in the picked box. It's the Out of the Box event. The first time capsule public opening was in December 2012. On May, 10th 2013 I was able to attend another live opening, at the theater of the museum. The next ones will be in July 2013 and September 2013.
During the event, the three girls working on the project, opened a box for us. A cam was recording from above. On a screen we could see, projected, what was inside the box, discovering little by little the content.
The team explained us the way they work, the process of cataloguing and some funny stories about their job. This job, that is for sure interesting and could be hilarious, is also very important for the Andy Warhol foundation. It allows the tracking of Andy's masterpieces, exhibitions, donations etc. Cataloguing each piece is a very delicate task. The girls are constantly in touch with other members of the projects, who help them in understanding the meaning of creation pieces. In some cases, foreign languages or "missing links" make the job very tough. It takes a lot of general knowledge, pop culture and a little or craziness to understand certain connections.
During the last opening, we found good pieces from Andy. A part from mail and invitations, our box (from 1978) contained:
Original McDonald's paper bags, for take-away meals. Used.
Covers for the High Times zine, to be evaluated by Andy, and then the printed number, with the chosen cover, and a piece on Andy Warhol.
- A cook book titled: Palette to Palate
- Armand Schaubroeck Steals – Ratfucker (record never opened by Andy, but opened live for us)
- A letter sent by "Professor Plum"
- Tax Files
- Postcards from Egypt and Japan
- a low quality cigar, never smoked
- "Bibles Stories" by William Anthony ("I can't wait for the New Testament. This is the first Bible I could understand."—Andy Warhol)
- a card saying: Flowers are Sex Organs
- a telegram regarding a recommendation to meet with Mick Jagger
- a copy of the book "Delirious New York" by Rem Koolhaas, clearly never read (but highly recommended by myself)
The event was very professionally held, interesting and appealing. It's a nice balance of seriousness (the process and cataloguing) and hilarious (the content).
I also recommend you to visit the blog of the project http://www.warhol.org/connect/blogs/tc/ and the official website of the project http://www.warhol.org/TC21/main.html where you'll be able to see the content of the boxes and learn more about this.
And if you'll be here in May or September, don't miss the next opening! Only few boxes to go…
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