Question 1

What happens to my message?

Accepted Answer

You write it here, on the site, and it is kept in electronic form. While the capsule is open for messages, you can take it back. Before the sealing we print every message — with its number in the capsule, and with a signature if its author signed it — and seal them into the capsule under wax; the capsule's owner may add letters on paper and objects of their own. From that moment your message has two lives. The printed page stays in the capsule for good: it cannot be changed or taken out, and after the opening it becomes part of the work. The electronic copy stays with us and returns to you by email on the opening day. You can have it deleted at any time — but then there will be nothing to return.

Question 2

Who can read it before then?

Accepted Answer

Until the opening day, your whole message is read only by Memora's keepers and by the capsule's owner, if the owner seals the capsule themselves: before the sealing they receive all the messages for printing. When Memora seals the capsule, the owner does not see the messages until the opening day. Your message is printed untouched, with its number. It is anonymous by default: if you sign it, the signature is printed under it. Your email and profile name never reach the paper, and only the keepers have access to the database where they are linked to your message. Before printing, the keepers read every message: one that cannot be printed is not printed — we explain why to its author, if there is an email to write to, and it can be rewritten while the capsule is still open.

Question 3

Can I change my mind?

Accepted Answer

Until the capsule is sealed, yes — write to us and we will withdraw your message entirely and delete your details. After the sealing, the printed page stays in the capsule: it cannot be changed, taken out or opened before its day, and that permanence is the whole point. The electronic copy of your message and your email we will delete at your first request, at any time. Only remember: then, on the opening day, there will be nothing for us to return to you.

Question 4

Will my words ever be published?

Accepted Answer

Short fragments, yes — anonymously. Taking part means the capsule's owner (for Memora's public capsules, Memora itself) may quote fragments of messages and read them aloud — at the sealing, at the opening, in materials about the capsule — without the author's name or signature and without details that could identify them. Memora may do so at any time, the owner once they have the texts; if the capsule is sold, this right and the duty to quote only this way pass to the new owner. Your whole message — as text, or a video where it is read in full — is published only with your consent: Memora asks you by email about each specific case, and a message with no email is never published in full. You can ask us at info@memoracapsule.com not to quote your message; that applies to Memora's quotations, but a right that has passed to another owner cannot be withdrawn.

Question 5

What happens to the capsule after the opening?

Accepted Answer

After the opening, the capsule with all its messages becomes a finished work. The printed pages stay inside — they are part of the art object. Every message is open: the capsule's owner can read it, and if the capsule is shown at an exhibition, so can its visitors. The capsule may stay in Memora's collection, be exhibited, or one day change hands. Your page carries the number of the message and not your name — unless you sign it: then the signature is printed under the message, and everyone who reads the page will see it. But what the text itself says may point to you, so decide which details to leave in. The same goes for a photo: it is printed with the message.

Question 6

Will it be filmed?

Accepted Answer

The sealing and the opening take place in public and are filmed. Anonymous fragments of messages may be read aloud on camera — without names, signatures or details that could identify their authors. A message is read in full only with its author's consent.

Question 7

What do you do with my email?

Accepted Answer

To return your message to you on the opening day, and to write to you about the capsule you wrote into — for instance, to explain why a message cannot be printed.

Question 8

Who can take part?

Accepted Answer

Anyone aged 16 or over. You can write in any language.

Question 9

Who keeps the capsule safe?

Accepted Answer

This capsule is in the care of Memora, which is responsible for its safekeeping and for following every procedure to the letter, from the sealing to the opening day. On the opening day, Memora returns the messages: it has access to the archive. Your message comes back to you either way — by email, whatever becomes of the object itself.

Question 10

Why write to the future?

Accepted Answer

Because you see today as you will never see it again. Over time, memory rewrites it: smooths it over, explains it, gives it meaning after the fact. And the world changes so fast that we do not always notice what is happening to us. A message in the capsule keeps this moment as you are living it now. And you do it not alone, but beside other people living through the same thing. Time is the material here, and the waiting is what gives the words their weight.

“Before It Begins”