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AUGUST 23, 1999
WAS PROCLAIMED "CAPSULE DAY" BY THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,
AND SCORES OF PEOPLE COLLABORATED
TO "SAVE THE 20TH CENTURY" BY RECORDING, IN VARIOUS MEDIA, THEIR
RESPECTIVE CORNERS OF THE WORLD AS SEEN ON THAT DATE. FIND OUT ABOUT THIS
YEAR'S CAPSULE DAY PROJECT HERE, AND SEE PROJECTED CENTER CITY ROUTES HERE.
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In contrast to "Day in
the Life" projects, Capsule Day does not seek out powerful individual
images; its purpose was and is to gather a large quantity of interconnected
imagery, sounds, behaviors and situations through which future observers,
using immersive technology, can experience life as we lived it. Given
enough data there will be resonance and irony aplenty in the elements
that were randomly chosen, as some of the 1999
samples already show. |
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To that end, many used
video cameras, many more
used still cameras, and some used audiotape and other media to capture
a large and diverse amount of footage and imagery documenting Philadelphia
(as well as other locations) on August 23, 1999. This site will serve
as a showcase for much of that footage,
and will continue to be upgraded and expanded
as the original submissions are converted and further catalogued.
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CAPSULE
DAY 2003 - AUGUST 21
PLANNING MEETING, FREE LIBRARY (PCI BRANCH ON RITTENHOUSE SQUARE)
AUGUST 20, 6 p.m. |
Meanwhile, each year on
Capsule Day new footage is produced of some of the same locations, and 2003 is a special
year indeed. This is the "bookend" to complement the 1999
project and create a second reference point with which to straddle
the turn of the 21st century; many of the original capsulers this
year will retrace their 1999 steps, with additional new
projects enriching the depiction of our current lifestyles.
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Come in and look around.
Some project pages are already pretty
well established; others are still in placeholder
mode. The site has been launched now with the basic links
in place, but much of the content still offline. What's here so far
should at least give an idea of the ultimate realization of the project,
in which travelers can jump from one visual thread to another through
intersections of place, time, and/or theme. |
CAPSULE DAY VIDEO SAMPLER
(Click on pictures for Quicktime movies - 22 MB each)
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| PART ONEClips include: Proclamation Ceremony, as presented on Action News at Noon; View from City Hall Tower; Meridian Building demolition; Mural in progress at 13th & Locust; Interview with Meg Seligman; panorama at Broad & Spring Garden including "Common Threads;" traveling south on Broad. | ............ | PART TWOElevator ride in City Hall; Peering in at construction on "Regional Performing Arts Center;" Interview at Greater Philadelphia Food Bank; Inventories of food at home and in supermarket; Jackie Robinson mural; protest RV blocking 15th & Market at noon; getting on the 23 bus. | ............ | PART THREEInterviews at Philly Cuts barbershop; Trolley Car Diner as boarded-up building; passing shots of American Appliance, Mellon PSFS, Pier 34; overhead shot of LOVE park, Parkway; tourist runs up Art Museum steps; runners at Falls Bridge; night footage on Market Street; entering Capsule Day wrap-up party; party coverage on Action News at 11. |
| About this sampler: These
selections were assembled to highlight some of the interesting
things that emerged out of the first Capsule Day, many of
them unanticpated. Most of the cuts between one scene and
the next are examples of possible hyperlink "jumps" between
one person's thread and another's (complete concordance of sampler shots here),
showing different ways material may be related (location,
spoken content, activity, theme, etc.) While this is only
a tiny fraction of each person's submission (and we weren't
able to include everybody, sorry), it should give some idea
of the possibilities inherent in this project. Thanks to
DUTV for digitizing the VHS version of the video sampler. |
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This site was officially launched on January 23, 2003
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