Time Capsules by Andy Warhol

569 cardboard boxes 

From 1974 until his death in 1987, Andy Warhol filled 569 cardboard boxes, 40 filing cabinet drawers and a large trunk with material he had collected over the course of his life. The Time Capsules, the core of the Andy Warhol Museum's archival collection, was Warhol's largest serial work of art and a paragon of his obsessive collecting habits. Totalling around 300,000 individual objects, the collection was mostly ephemeral in nature, made of things that passed through his hands, studio and office every day. At first glance, you would consider these objects - things that are normally thrown away, such as receipts, notes and ticket stubs - to be trash - especially compared to the real works of art he put in the boxes. However, this material offers a very personal way of interpreting Warhol's behaviour, views and relationships. 

Sorted and organised 

Contrary to many people's expectations, the Time Capsules anno now are not disordered boxes full of stuff, but rather the opposite: neatly organised materials, sorted by object type, carefully packed and placed in folders, numbered, labelled and then carefully stacked back in the box. 

‘The choice to include one of these Time Capsules in the Vanitas exhibition has several reasons. The first is that this very box highlights Warhol's fragile sense of self, his obsession with appearance and his willingness to use all kinds of methods to maintain a certain physical image. The second is that the contents of this Time Capsule (like all the others) contain typical materials that were never meant to last. Their preservation by Warhol, and their continued preservation by the museum, makes the boxes relics,’ says Amber Morgan, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at The Andy Warhol Museum in the (yet to be published) publication “Andy Warhol: Vanitas”.

Large sculptural works

The Time Capsules (containing old invoices, postcards, newspaper clippings and so on) are reminiscent of typical archival collections. But Warhol himself regarded this huge collection as a work of art - a huge sculptural work that at one point he wanted to sell box by box.   

‘It is not often that artists have left such a large amount of material, and even less often that it is so personal,’ he says. The challenges of preserving, storing, documenting and keeping track of this amount of material proved as valuable as they were complex. But when, as a researcher, you discover that one specific item, that one missing link, that helps complete the story we are trying to tell, it makes it all worthwhile,’ says Amber Morgan. 

FAQ

Do you have a questions about your visit to Andy Warhol: Vanitas? Then check out our Frequently Asked Questions page first. Is the answer not listed? Then contact us at info@schunck.nl.