Letters to a Future Generation

Had you asked me a week ago, I never would have guessed that well over 100 people would write letters to a new generation at the conference. This is in addition to approximately 50 letters that I brought with me from the United States. 

To fit the new conference context, we reformatted the project so that it could be executed within one of the sessions. I started the session by explaining the project and reading some of the letters from the United States (thank you again to everyone who wrote!). Graduate students then passed out letter forms and collected them at the end of the session. They inserted the letters into pouches that they had made in preparation for the conference, and pinned them to the walls for all to see as they left the conference. 

We will be making a website so that everyone can read the letters and/or add new letters to the collection. Several students that I spoke with wanted to continue this project within their own departments and universities, so I am hoping that they will add their letters, too. This August, we plan to reinstall a third version of this project (again in a different format) in Romania this summer, at which time we will add those letters to the website as well. Lastly, Anila will be using the fabric pouches that I brought to Pakistan for another installation in a public school in Karachi. I look forward to seeing what that installation brings as well!  I will post some examples of the letters from the University of Karachi as soon as I get a chance to open them up.

For those who are not familiar with the project, the following three images document its first installation at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Over the course of 5 days, nearly 500 people wrote letters to a new generation and placed them into pouches (in person or by proxy). Before doing so, however, they turned the pouches inside-out, revealing the brightly colored, uniquely patterned interior. The bags were then sewn shut as time capsules to be opened in year 2100 by an artist who has not yet been born.