:quality(70):focal(2395x1475:2405x1485)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/thenational/GPTTBQGTSW4VHU67YG7F7TNPWQ.jpg)
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/thenational/06bc983d-10c7-433f-960a-1e9f892c4c24.png)
Hot on the heels of Spotify's new Playlist in a Bottle feature, which allows users to create a musical time capsule, a storage company in Dubai is offering residents a chance to freeze mementos and memories for 15 years.
The Box, a self-storage company, is marking its 15th anniversary with an event next Friday and Saturday. Simply visit the JLT warehouse and place any token that represents your life in 2023 in a time capsule unit. This will be cracked open in 2038, and the contents shipped to each participant no matter where they live then.
From letters to yourself or your children, to a favourite piece of clothing or a newspaper from a particularly eventful day, the world is your oyster when it comes to choosing what you’d like to receive in the post 15 years from now.
“We decided to celebrate our anniversary with a time-capsule activation because we wanted to create a meaningful and lasting tribute to the people and events that shaped our company. By opening the time capsule in the future, we can look back on the memories and achievements of the past,” said Wadih Haddad, founder and chief executive of The Box.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/thenational/3K2GCBIRVVHDHH33OJWKPE3ZQM.jpg)
The event will take place from 10am to 5.30pm and promises to have “popcorn, coffee, canapes and other interesting folk living in Dubai to talk to”.
Cool time capsules to know
Century Safe
1876-1976
Contents: A scroll signed by members of the 44th Congress, a gold pen from poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and photos by Mathew Brady, one of the earliest American photographers.
Scouts honour
1961-2010
Contents: Assembled in Germany to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Scouting in 1961, the capsule comprised photos of German and American troop members, plus newspapers, scouting books and letters from US government leaders.
As an aside, in 2012, a Girl Scout troop from California opened a time capsule assembled in 1987, comprising teen fan magazines, campfire ashes, hair scrunchies and a Thin Mints box.
Steve Jobs
1983-2014
Contents: Lisa, the first computer mouse carved out of wood, created by Apple founder Steve Jobs, plus a Rubik's cube and a six-pack of beer.
Earth’s Black Box
To collect data for the next 30-50 years
At a remote site in Tasmania, a massive structure is in place to electronically store climate research and data such as land and sea temperature changes, human population census surveys and military spending. The idea is to inform future civilisations of humankind’s role in the climate crisis, and whether we failed or succeeded in addressing it.