“Soonerorlater,”Martinsaidwhen
wefirstmetinGmunden,“we’llhave
todeletedata,massively.Justfor
economicalandecologicalreasons.
Thisdeletionwillnotbeorganised,
notconsideredinselectingwhatwe
wanttokeep.”
Theideaofcreatinga timecapsule
startedforMartinasa standagainst
ourown impermanence,andas
arebuttaltotheBigDeletion.He
wouldgatherandprotectthedata,
documentsandephemeraofthe
presentmoment.
“Asa species,we’recollectorsand
rememberers. Weleave tracesof
ourselveseverywhere,”hetoldme.
“SoI thought,Whatif weleavesome-
thingmorepermanent?Howwould
wedoit?”
SobegantheMemoryofMan-
kind (MOM) project in his shop in
2012.Withhisfirstceramictablet,
heetchedagreeting,explaining
thatherelies“apreservationpro-
ject”meanttoprotectknowledge
about“ourpresentcivilisationfrom
oblivionandcollectiveamnesia.”It
isdatedbyastronomicalevents,as
it’sunclearwhetherthosewhocome
manymillenniainthefuturewill
knowhowtoreadnumbers.There’s
alsoa pictionary,sotheycanunder-
standourlettersandwords.
He’suptoover 600 tablets,with
citizens,scholars, experts and
enthusiastssendingmaterialthey
wantprintedona tabletthroughhis
website.Theysendtheirdiaryentries
andloveletters,newspaperarticles
andobscuredissertations,blogsand
texts,themostimportantpartsofus.
“MOMisthefirst‘bottom-up’history
of the world,” said Martin.Etched ceramic tablets, like the one on the right, are stored inside crates in the salt mine63
The Archivist of Everything