reprage

*Internal screaming* I sort of wrote myself into a corner with that last post about Yoda’s boat, and I hate corners. In many ways, it feels like the death of a story; with nowhere left to turn, this narrative will wither and die. No! I’m not ready yet - I need more time - there is so much more to experience and explore.

I guess that’s why religion gets filled with many depictions of an afterlife – promises – that death is not a corner, that if we’re “good,” we’ll get to continue our stories. Just like the Vikings - they had Valhalla, a majestic bar in the sky for fallen warriors to party in eternal glory. The Vikings were not alone, the Ancient Greeks had Elysium, and the Egyptians had Aaru.

The promise of immortality in Space Program 4 is different. First, Tom must liberate our digital soul by crushing our smartphone into a fine dust. Then he takes some of that dust and mixes it with other ingredients like ‘dry cum powder’ to make Fanta Black paint. In Sachs' universe, our consciousness doesn’t get a never-ending party. Instead, we live on in the memories and marks we leave behind, our children, art, and ideas.

Do you want to escape this corner and live forever? Come on, get in. Yoda’s brought a boat, and we’re heading off to leave traces of our story behind.

A photo of the fanta black paint mixing station created by Tom Sachs and installed at Deichtorhallen, Germany
A close up photo of a fanta black paint bottle lid as shown during the Space Program 4 demonstration at Deichtorhallen, Germany
A photo of the old film canister red solar barge sculpture created by Tom Sachs and installed at Deichtorhallen, Germany

Photos: Chawan Dissertations

Originally written for the Sachsian Syndicate.

Previously: TGIM 34 - Someone somewhere is using that information to recreate a snippet of our consciousness. Maybe it’s Facebook trying to anticipate what we’ll buy next. Or perhaps it’s a security agency that’s determined to figure out our ideology.

Comments:

You can join the conversation on Twitter or Instagram

Become a Patreon to get early and behind-the-scenes access along with email notifications for each new post.