Akram Zaatari

Time Capsule . 2012

+ Galerie Sfeir-Semler

At the break of the civil war in Lebanon in 1975, the National Museum in Beirut sealed most of its collections of archeological objects and artifacts inside huge concrete blocks that remained onsite in the museum's main hall until the end of the war in 1991.Inspired by this move, the Time Capsule project imagines scripts/models for radical preservation designed for the Arab Image Foundation in Beirut; models that consider non-scientific paradigms to rethink photograph preservation while recognizing the necessity of timely withdrawal of documents and artifacts at times of great risks.
The project positions itself politically as a statement against excessive speculation on photographic archives, and extends archive related practices into making objects, film, architecture and painting.

Design and Structure: Mohammad Adra, Bawader Architects (Beirut)
Construction: Köster Bau, Bielefeld.
Time Capsule Project was Commissioned by dOCUMENTA (13)
Co-produced with: Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut/Hamburg and Köster Bau, Bielefeld