A sign of uncertain times

In May 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic confined us to our homes, many of us began to wonder about the future - both in terms of health and our professional lives. I started to question how we would look back on this experience in the future, and how much our lives might change as a result. We were hearing about the concept of a "new normal," but what did that really mean? What would the situation be like in two months? What about in two years?

As my colleague David and I shared these concerns, we decided it would be a good idea to create a time capsule. We thought about burying some meaningful items that would help us remember 2020 in a few years' time. We also considered creating some self-made artistic pieces to include in the capsule. Finally, we decided to invite three other people to contribute to the capsule - a total of five people, the maximum that my car could hold.

Initially, we planned to gather in person to bury the time capsule, but due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to go digital. We asked the few friends who were participating to send their work online. This led us to consider inviting more creatives to join the project, since we no longer needed to worry about physical space constraints. This is how 00110010 was born - an open call for digital art piece submissions and a platform to observe creative progress.

To observe the changes in artistic expression over time, David and I asked participants to delete all content related to their submitted piece after the submission deadline. Two years later, when we opened the capsule, participants were asked to recreate their work entirely from memory. In the summer of 2022, we unveiled the works of the 53 artists who had initially submitted to the project, but only for a brief period of five days. The capsule will be reopened in 2024, when all final pieces will be permanently released.

As the project was reactivated, it was announced that new participants would have a final opportunity to contribute. The capsule would consider work from those who submitted during either of these two rounds of the open call.

A fresh identity

In the months leading up to the first unearthing of the capsule, I worked on developing a fresh and more solid identity for the project. I wanted to create a sober and simple tone that would give all the prominence to the artists' work. I designed a simple logo, or isotype, that was used consistently throughout the capsule's branding.

To further solidify the project's identity, I decided to create a more sophisticated physical representation of the capsule. I used an old silver flask that I had at home for this.

The 2020-2022 expo

Before the summer of 2022, when restrictions in Tenerife allowed for larger gatherings, I decided to organize a physical exhibition to showcase the pieces that would be revealed during the brief window of time when the capsule was opened. Instead of displaying the pieces on traditional physical media, such as framing, I chose to create a video mapping installation that could show all the pieces. This was a challenging task, especially due to the limited time frame - the capsule was scheduled to be opened on the 2nd, and the exhibition was set to start on the 5th.

However, I was able to set up the installation and prepare the exhibition space at Casa de la Juventud Lázaro-Siliuto in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. I imagined the exhibition as two large white squares facing each other, as if in dialogue. One square displayed the original pieces from 2020, while the other showed their reinterpretations from 2022.

The video installation used a stereo sound system to reproduce all video and music pieces, and the installation would start playing roughly every hour. The exhibition was opened with an event, and the first screening took place in the afternoon of the 5th, with over 80 people in attendance. Before the screening, my friends from Baldosa, a Tenerife-based band who had submitted a piece to the capsule, performed it for the final time until the capsule is reopened in 2024.

Other communication assets

Here's a few other assets I created to promote the open call, remind participants and provide signage during the event and exposition.

A website was also created to host all relevant information about the capsule, such as its manifesto and deadlines. During the unearthing, the website also served as the submission platform for artists, as well as the online stream of the exhibition for those who couldn't visit in person in Tenerife.

Now, the website also includes all media coverage from both 2020 and 2022, as well as other unreleased media assets. You can visit the website by clicking the button below.