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HNH 2005: Sound Capsule

2005, cd, slikscreen, plastic, spray paint, stamp, grommet

5-1/4 x 5-1/4 inches

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For the company's 2005 product, Humanitarians Not Heroes collaborates with Detroit-based sound and art collective Time Stereo to bring you the cd release of Sound Capsule, a mysterious collection of recordings not intended for play until seven years from now. Each cd is stamped with an individual "listening date." Holders of the album - by honor system guidelines - agree not to remove the cd and listen prior to this date, the earliest being July 5, 2012. Copies of Sound Capsule are sold in sequence. Therefore, the earlier a copy is purchased, the sooner it can be played. The cd itself is secured inside a cardboard sleeve by grommetted clock hands that turn manually. In order to actually get the cd out, the casing would thus have to be "broken."

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Sound Capsule is a sonic time capsule inspired by Washington Irving's 1819 short story of Rip Van Winkle, a ne'er-do-well who fell asleep in the Catskills for twenty years and in the process, missed the entire American Revolutionary War. Historians and social theorists may associate the notion of Mr. Winkle to a luddite or someone time has passed by, but we would like to think that he simply slept well.

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As with all HNH products, there is a correlation between object and state of the union, regardless if it appears we've been bored into catatonia by the changing times. Sound Capsule had these thoughts in mind:

1. Sleeping through a war is not only a good thing, but preferred.

2. Sleeping through a war is healthy.
3. Patience. You're going to need some.

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Sound Capsule half-heartedly makes note of recent and ongoing press disclosures of previously secret and CLASSIFIED information. An exercise of epiphany and endurance, Sound Capsule promotes the value of waiting (but not abstinence) versus immediate gratification. So nod off, and hear us in seven years time.

 

Contributors to Sound Capsule include Davin Brainard, Warn Defever, Trong G. Nguyen, and Hitoko Sakai. Time Stereo is a sound and art collective based in Detroit, Michigan. Started by Davin Brainard and Warn Defever, Time Stereo's original mission way back when was to make inexpensive cassette releases available to everyone. Over the years, they have produced wonderous projects and collaborated with many musicians and artists of renown and ill-repute from around the world.

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