Primer: Find out more about Tom Sachs and his latest project, which is a rocket comprised of 3 component NFT parts that can be collected and assembled to form a launchable NFT rocket. Tom will then build a physical rocket and actually send it flying in the real world.
About Tom Sachs
54 years old, born in New York City, grew up in the suburbs
Did not come from an art family - but from a family that is more into consumerism
Was critical about consumerism especially after learning more in school about Karl Marx and the American hardcore punk scene
Yet aware of how consumerism and brands form a tribal connection with each other
Wanted a Piet Mondrian painting but didn't want to earn it on Wall Street because he thought it wasn't a good authentic use of his time
Demonstrating a principle called sympathetic magic - you build it and they will come
You build the things, not the way the world is but the way you want the world to be
Started his own space program from scratch to realise the things that are important to him
Consumerism
Grew up as a secular Jew and resented Hebrew school because he missed so much soccer practice that he got cut from the team
Around the dinner table, they never talked about religious stuff - it's all centred around consumerism like his dad's new car, mum's new dress, and which new Nike shoes he can buy if he mowed the lawn
Realised that the seeking of brands or other status things is a ritual activity that they did repetitively, so it had a kind of religious quality to it
People identified themselves with certain brands and there is a tribal association that helps to bond people and also create boundaries between those who are in and those who are out
This is all a result of advertising and there is no meaningful difference between the brands, just which bit of tribal advertising you subscribed to
While critical of consumerism, he is also simultaneously attracted to this because he can't live under a rock and everyone is a victim of advertisement
This is the advantage that artists have
Artists can see the value of taking two simultaneously opposing ideas in your mind at once - To love something and hate it
Embracing paradox is the essence of what art on any level provides for us
"The handheld supercomputer [cell phone] is our custom made program by us, for us to meet our weakest impulses, to provide a soothing and whatever form that is, whether it's shopping or pornography, or fake news for your own echo chamber. This is the ultimate realization of consumers and the ultimate expression of it is the device and it advertises for itself in this endless, increasing tautological vicious cycle."
- Tom Sachs
Why is consumerism taking over religion?
As Western civilisation evolves, the utility of religion decreases as that of consumerism increases
It could also be due to the addiction and the interconnectedness of our phones
He is as addicted to consumerism as everyone else but he deals with the addiction by diving straight into it to embrace it
"I'm not a big consumer. Like I let things go through me. If I was a consumer, I would never consume things, but I just redistribute them. I love them. But I don't try to have too much of an emotional attachment. Because things go through me. Like a medium of plywood comes in the front door, and it comes out the back door as a sculpture."
- Tom Sachs
Mimetic desires and fitting in
Tom had low self-esteem in the past and he is always trying to fit into other people's standard
Once he found his own internal standards of excellence, he started dressing himself to what he believes is important
It is hard to have the confidence to make your own decisions and not follow others
"I love my old jeans. But there's no greater fashion crime than having your jeans acid washed in a factory before you wear them. You got to earn your scars."
- Tom Sachs
He is not fashion obsessed but he is concerned with the materials he uses to wrap his body because he is a sculptor
Process of creation
Do output before input
Output: Do a drawing, touch clay, write speak
Input: Listening to music, looking at cell phones and go through the digital death cycle of texting, messaging, email, Whatsapp, Instagram, eBay
This is to access his subconscious, which is the part of his mind where decisions are made that don't make linear logical sense - where the nonsense can be made sense of
The main strategy is to find things that don't belong except in a very special way
If it makes sense, then someone else would have done it before
Don't want to do something for the money or because it is natural
Want to do things where he is learning and exploring and making mistakes along the way
Be in touch with his intuition
Cultivate intuition by spending time with his subconscious
Journey into NFT
Crypto punk was introduced to him by friends, asking him to look at the attributes of each punk
"My journey into NFTs is kind of like the formation of a planet. It started as a gaseous Nebula and then over billions of years, or in this case one year, it started to coagulate into a planet and that planet started to develop slime and that slime developed and mutated and evolved into creatures that talk about slime. That's where we are right now. We're talking about slime."
- Tom Sachs
He then realised it is a sort of four-dimensional art project that could only be represented by computers
Thought immediately of Sol LeWitt's Incomplete Open Cubes in 1974
It's a drawing of a cube and the artist removed more and more legs of a cube, forming all the permutations of a cube that was incomplete
Felt that crypto punks had the same approach from a different direction in a different setting
Hence he wanted all the punks, not the individual punks but the system of all possible punks
When has the free time, he will go to Larva Labs marketplace to look at the structure of the crypto punks to devise new punks in his head beyond the 10,000 minted that haven't yet exist
What makes NFT a distinct medium
He is new to crypto but had been working for 35 years in the plywood space
Making artwork in the digital space excites him because he can do drawings in layer form
there is no finished product - his artwork is an organic thing that exists in multilayers
In the past before computers, people do drawings on different layers of acid acetate
The different layers are laid on top of each other to form an animation cell and pictures are taken to form the final print
If you go to a museum or an art collection, you can see all the different layers of acetate stacked together to form a beautiful artwork and this is kind of lost, until now
For NFT, you can have a drawing that exists on different layers at the same time
Crypto space allows you to show all those different stages in a way that is not seen before
Tom Sachs: Rocket Factory
There are 3000 NFTs in total - 1000 nose cones, 1000 bodies, and 1000 tail assemblies with 30 different brands of components
All the brands are mainstream ones that people can identify with
The brands connect with Tom's personal history and resonated with him
In a way, it is a form of portraiture of himself created through those brands
Each nose cone, body and tail assembly can be combined in many different combinations to form 1000 complete rocket NFTs, which are unique
Kept to 1000 rockets because if they had to physically launch all these rockets, it will take them 7 days a week for 3 months
Wanted to control the quality before taking more than he can commit and deliver on what he promises
The three NFT of the component parts of the rockets are burned and a new complete rocket NFT is formed in its place
Once the rocket is assembled, there is an option to select a launch date
Can be assembled in Tom Sach's rocket factory standalone marketplace
Can also be done in OpenSea but it costs an extra 2.5%, which is absorbed when the standalone marketplace is used
Tom will then get a notification and he will build a model rocket physically that can actually fly
It comes with a surprise payload
The rocket will be launched all over the world like New York, including Antarctica
The rocket will come down with a parachute where it is recovered and sent to the owner of the NFT
In the end, the owner gets the NFT which is a digital drawing of the rocket (image hosted on IPFS), the actual physical rocket that is recovered after launching and a short video clip of the launch
The video clip will be embedded in the smart contract as the metadata
All 3 things form the art and they are not separate things
Developed with NFTStudios
Why create a product involving rockets?
Trying to find a way to do something in the NFT space
Also wanted to do something that is authentic to himself and his studio team, who had been working on the space program and launching rockets for a long time
"And, you know, for me, the reward for good work is more work. Like, I'm not doing this for the ETH, I'm doing this for the doing it. And that's kind of all I ever really wanted, to be part of a community and participate and bring joy to others and educate and entertain myself."
- Tom Sachs
Hence he thought of launching rockets to build a sense of community to reach out
Amazed at the interest and kindness of the people in the digital community
Not doing this for the money but simply for the sake of doing it
Why include a physical launch?
His experience with LSD enables him to look into other dimensions of reality and see the world in a different way
"Just because you can't experience it in meatspace doesn't mean it's not real."
- Tom Sachs
Even though the world does not make sense when he is tripping on acid, there is a structure and logic to it
He wants to bridge the space between the physical world and the metaverse
Do not want to make a distinction to say which space is more important than the other
Also planning to do some launches in the metaverse but it is under development now
Both physical and the metaverse has value as long as he does things authentically
More details
3000 NFT parts are available, with 70% of them up for free claims, excluding gas fees.
Inclusive of gas will be 0.15 ETH per part claimed
The remaining 30% is distributed among the people who built this project
There is a 0.1 ETH fee for launching the rocket, but launching is optional
The physical launch will only start after all the parts are claimed
Working with NFTStudios
Leandro and Nahuel are unflappable - had little changes that had to be done and the reply is always no problem or a written email detailing how it is not a problem
They love the idea of the rocket launch and are very committed and professional
They built the code to burn 3 component NFTs and reformed them as one rocket NFT elegantly so that the gas fees are lower than expected
Tom and the two of them have the same values and are already aligned before they met
Even though the project being on-chain means that it is a lot more work and costs more, it is built robustly to last and is the right way to building stuff
In a way, this is similar to how Tom's metalwork and woodwork in the studio are built to last
Why is the project launched at a low price despite Tom's fame?
Tom wanted it to be priced even less but this is as low as it can possibly get while still paying everyone
He benefited from the elitism of the art world but he does not like it
Wanted to make it all equal with a fair launch so nobody had any advantages
Vision for his art and NFT space
Vision for his art in 5 to 10 years time
This is just the start and there will be more many journeys into other dimensions involving other themes that Tom and his studio had been working on for the past 30 years
For a clue on what is coming next, look at his past work to figure out, based on the body of work done previously
Vision for the NFT space in 3 years time
The quality of projects will drop off and there will be fewer good projects in the future
But we will see projects of greater complexity and sophistication that bring out the specific qualities of digital computers that can bring art to a whole new level
Favourites
Favourite piece of art
Started with LP records and then cassettes, CD and iTunes but there is no support for them anymore
Started all over again on Spotify
If he had to choose one, it'll be La vie en rose by Louis Armstrong, the most important artist of the 20th century
Inspired by Louis Armstrong who had a combination of skills that is unique to him only
The first guy to leave notes out so that your mind will complete them, a very rough voice that is not something people is used to hearing and having virtuosic skill in his instruments
Andrew expected him to say a painting or a sculpture but didn't expect Tom to say a song
The truth is that the art form that moves him the most is music
His second favourite is Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet
Favourite NFT
ZeNFT Bonsai NFT - transports him to another world he had explored before
"The biggest single thing takeaway of my art career is that if you do it long and hard enough, you become native and it becomes authentic, even if it's something as obscure and ritualized as the tea ceremony, you can find your way in."
- Tom Sachs
Loves his crypto punk and Picasso Ape (from Bored Ape Yacht Club)
Most controversial thought on art
The first thought is that everyone is an artist and Tom is fighting to help people see that
John Thomas, his lawyer, is one of the most creative people he had ever met and he is the one who said that
The second is that it is important to take the time to step outside of the way you understand the world and look at it with another set of eyes
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