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Time CapsulesTC528: Opening a Warhol Time Capsule with Benjamin Liu

Four people including Andy Warhol's former personal and studio assistant Benjamin Liu view a Warhol time capsule's contents.

It is not unusual for cataloguers working on the Time Capsule project to develop their own “relationships” with Warhol’s friends. It is easy to track the arrival and departure of people in Warhol’s life because the boxes hold so many items and progress chronologically in time. I read correspondence, sort through vacation photographs, and categorize their personal gifts. So, it is always a strange but enlightening experience to meet people I’ve gotten to know from the 1970’s and ‘80’s, in person, in 2014. Benjamin Liu has an especially unique insight into the contents in Time Capsules. He is not only one of the few individuals who have seen what’s inside them, but he also participated in packing and dating them. Liu joined museum staff this past May for an Out of the Box event, and while every opening is a surprise, Liu had a few of his own.