Flushing Meadows-Corona Park used to be the Corona Ash Dump; “the valley of the ashes”, as described by Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. It was transformed to be the host of two World’s Fairs. During these fairs, two time capsules were buried. But, who decided the contents of the capsules? Which legacies were worth keeping?
This park is already a time capsule on its own. Therefore, we will continue time capsul-ing in two ways. First, instead of storing knowledge, we will be restoring the past by providing opportunities for the present. We will give space to the peoples excluded from the 20th century time capsules in the park. It will be a place for the use of the ones that were left outside. Second, we will continue land-filling this park. Bringing the material consequences of the future imaginaries buried in the site. Colonial and imperialist dreams that are the cause of the current poly-crisis: climate change, the biggest landfill in space, nuclear waste, etc. After centuries, the park will consolidate itself as a new landfill and the ashes will fill the park once again. And the time capsul-ing of Flushing Meadows will continue again. And again. And again.
