About S.P.R.L:

The Space Program Retail Lab (S.P.R.L.) is a digital companion to the fourth exhibition in Tom Sachs’ Space Program, the artist’s thirteen-year exploration of the boundaries of other worlds and human possibilities.

S.P.R.L. brings together the respective explorations and shared values of Tom Sachs and SSENSE as they challenge conventions of what retail can be. S.P.R.L. enables users to access Tom Sachs apparel and rare objects including limited edition SPACE PROGRAM: RARE EARTHS items, furniture like the NASA Folding Chair, design objects such as the Tom Sachs Leatherman Charge+ All Purpose Tool, and select artworks. Additional items, including the Fanny Pack Pro bag and singular Nikecraft products from the Tom Sachs archive, will be released during the course of the exhibition. Visitors to S.P.R.L. are invited to undergo exercises to digitally indoctrinate themselves into the Studio code by successfully completing online missions and following the S.P.R.L. log for updates about the Space Program. 

About the Exhibition at Deichtorhallen Hamburg:

The fourth exhibition in Tom Sachs’ Space Program, the artist’s thirteen-year exploration into the boundaries of other worlds and human possibilities, SPACE PROGRAM: RARE EARTHS will be on display at Deichtorhallen Hamburg from September 18, 2021 - April 10, 2022. 

With each mission to space, Sachs returns with new knowledge to apply to his craft. The journey to Vesta is no exception. Space Program: Rare Earths features many new works by Sachs including Transubstantiation (2020-2021), Vehicle Assembly Building (2021), and an immersive MRI machine. Throughout all his explorations of space—the Moon at Gagosian in 2007, Mars at the Park Avenue Armory in 2012, and Jupiter’s icy moon Europa at Yerba Buena Center in 2016—the journey is powered equally by scientific exploration and obsessive craftsmanship.

Sachs consistently emphasizes transparency, and marks of the human hand; his exposed welding, drips of glue, and pencil marks are reminders of the labor it takes to get to space. With SPACE PROGRAM: RARE EARTHS, Sachs continues to challenge aspects of modern creativity that relate to consumption, production, and life cycle of the things we buy.