CAPSULE DAY
IS A TIME CAPSULE THAT IS NEVER BURIED.

 

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.


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.

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.

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.

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.

IF YOU WERE A PARTICIPANT OF THE ORIGINAL 1999 CAPSULE DAY, CHECK FOR YOUR PAGE. IF NOT, YOU CAN STILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE 2003 PROJECT. FOR OTHER PROJECT IDEAS, DROP US A LINE.

CAPSULE DAY VIDEO SAMPLER
(Click on pictures for Quicktime movies - 22 MB each)
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PART ONE
Clips 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.
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PART TWO
Elevator 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.
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PART THREE
Interviews 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.


This site was officially launched on January 23, 2003