Ten years ago, on what would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday, four time capsules in the musician’s honour were sealed at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio in the US. RÚV reports that one of those capsules was gifted to the Reykjavík City Library, where, COVID regulations permitting, it will remain on display until around December 8, the day Lennon was assassinated.
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The time capsules, which were created in a collaboration between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Box of Vision LLC, and Yoko Ono, will be opened in 2040 on what would have been Lennon’s 100th birthday. They contain all of Lennon’s solo albums (on CD), some of his artwork, books about him, photographic materials, messages from his fans, and a message from Yoko Ono. The creators anticipated that CDs would be obsolete in 2040, so CD players were also placed in the capsule so that the albums could be played upon opening.
The Reykjavík City Library prepared a display with the time capsule and its many Lennon and Beatles-related holdings at its downtown branch to coincide with the lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower on Lennon’s birthday, Friday, October 9. In that capital-area branches are currently closed due to pandemic regulations, however, librarian and collection manager Sigurður Jakob Vigfússon made a short video presentation of the materials to whet local fans’ appetite while they wait for a chance to view capsule and perhaps borrow one of the library’s many Lennon biographies, or a Beatles or Lennon album on vinyl. (Sigurður Jakob notes that the time capsule itself cannot, unfortunately, be loaned out to library patrons.)
The other three time capsules are held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Liverpool School of Art and Design, and at an unspecified location in Japan.
