Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal exhibition in Hong Kong ( Dec 2012 – March 2013)

I can’t say that I am a fan of Andy Warhol, but after watching a documentary on the artist a few years ago, I started to change my opinion on the artist and his work. Earlier this year when I was in Hong Kong, I went to see the touring exhibition, Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal organised by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, I was quite pleasantly surprised by his fashion illustrations from his early career and his photographic work.

Though what really struck me at the exhibition was seeing contents from his “Time capsules” projects. It is not an exaggeration to call Warhol a ‘compulsive hoarder’, he started the project in 1974 and managed to fill 612 cardboard boxes full of stuff that he collected from his daily life since 1950s. Each box was sealed, dated and stored away after they were filled, so nobody knew the contents until they were rediscovered and opened after his death in 1987.

A Journey Through London Subculture: 1980s to Now at the Old Selfridges Hotel

When I found out that there would be a live stream event, “Out of the box”, where two Time capsules boxes ( the last batch of unopened ones) would be opened in Pittsburgh and streamed live at ICA’s new offsite project venue, The Old Selfridges Hotel, I was intrigued.

My friend and I got there early and wandered around the cool and very raw space before the live event. This offsite project, A Journey Through London Subculture: 1980s to Now ( until 20th October) explores London’s creative past and the present through installations, videos, images and fashion, seems like a perfect setting for this event.

However, my friend and I decided to leave after about 45 minutes because the picture and sound quality of the live stream was not that great. I was glad to have seen part of the event, though it was a shame about the technical issue.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Time Capsule boxes, you can go visit Time Capsules 21, a website that examines the contents of box 21. Or you can watch director, John Waters ( hilariously) exploring Warhol‘s photo collection.

Essentially, the project is about memories ( wanted or unwanted) and we all have our own personal “Time capsules” ( which exist in both mental and physical forms), the only difference between us and Warhol is that we are unlikely to have over 600 boxes of them nor will curators and hundreds of strangers gathering to see the contents! Warhol was right about everyone being famous for 15 minutes in the future ( which is already happening in our culture today), but his own fame has lasted way longer than everyone else’s. And I bet he probably predicted it too.