NADA House 2021

At the turn of the last Century, Helmar’s late father buried a time capsule in an Igloo cooler in her family’s backyard in Alaska. Y2K had everyone holding their breath as to how the world might change. Would computers shut down? Would chaos ensue?

The capsule, unearthed in 2020, contained a Blockbuster card, marbles, human hair, plastic toys, photographs, and reading glasses, among other artifacts. These items, carefully chosen to be preserved and carried through time, map Umberto Eco’s proposal, “that every cultural phenomenon may be studied as communication.”

Adam and Eve Were Astronauts, arranges the objects from the time capsule in a study of semiotics, object permanence, and cultural artifact. Transmissions from the past are received in the present and projected into the future. In showing these objects and contextualizing them through an installation, Helmar and her father reveal the importance of symbols and artifacts that a society can knowingly or unknowingly leave behind.