Magne welds the final lid on the time capsule sculpture

Magne was at the National Archives in Oslo yesterday, to seal the final box in the time capsule project Til Ungdommen (see earlier news stories here and here).

Magne’s sculpture consists of 30 layers of aluminum on top of each other, made to resemble archival boxes. They contain letters from students all over Norway, who have shared their thoughts about the events of 22 July and about Norway today and in the future.

The sculpture also features a lot of words that students have punched into the aluminum plates.

“One thing I really liked about this project, was that it wasn’t my own project. It was a project that I could help facilitate, but was basically driven forward and completed by the students themselves”, Magne told Aftenposten.

The time capsule will remain sealed until 2031.

More pictures can be seen on Facebook and Instagram.

Workshop at Magne

As mentioned on April 11th, Magne is going collaborate with young students to create a special time capsule to be kept in the Norwegian National Archives.

On Tuesday this week, 17 students from selected schools across Norway, along with their teachers, took part in a workshop held at Magne’s own atelier in Asker.

“This is probably the first and last time I’m having visitors at my atelier. It feels a bit private”, Magne told the visiting guests before they entered, newspaper Budstikka reports.

The time capsule will be formed as a sculpture, and made up of a number of metal boxes. These boxes will contain letters where students have written down their thoughts on the July 22nd tragedy and the society we live in.

“I’m picturing an obelisk with words on it, maybe a sentence. You can write whatever you want – the more variation, the better”, he told his young collaborators.

At the workshop he showed the students how to punch words into soft metal, which is how the sculpture will be decorated on the outside. This technique is something they are later going to show their fellow students.

“You don’t often get the chance to engage people from all over the country like this. I’m a sort of facilitator here, not the creator. This is sensitive material, so I was a bit nervous. I agreed to do it because this isn’t mainly about the tragedy, but about the future. The focus here is that the students will send letters to the future, and that’s an interesting idea”, Magne says.

The time capsule, which is made in connection with the upcoming documentary film Til Ungdommen, will be opened in 2031 and is described as a gift to the youth of the future. More than 50.000 Norwegian students have signed up to take part in the time capsule project so far.

There is more info and a gallery from the workshop on the project’s own website at tilungdommen.com/tidskapselen.

Related articles:
Budstikka   Tidens Krav   Romerikes Blad   Jærbladet   austagderfk.no

Some info from the website of Elevorganisasjonen (the Norwegian student organization):

“Sant & Usant and Elevorganisasjonen are now working together to make a time capsule, containing young people’s thoughts on 22 July 2011, thoughts about our country and on our future. Your school can take part in this project, which will be a gift to the youth of the future, as well as an addition to the official history. (…) The time capsule will be kept in the [Norwegian] National Archives until 2031. Then it will be opened and the content will be made available to the public and for research purposes. As a symbol of the time capsule, Magne Furuholmen will create an artwork to be exhibited in the National Archives. The artwork will be made in collaboration with some of the students that are taking part in the time capsule project “Til Ungdommen” [“For the Youth”].”