The Deichtorhallen Hamburg is finally making it happen - after this everlasting lockdown - to host Tom Sachs and his team of sculptor-astronauts as they prepare to advance space exploration on their next interstellar mission, SPACE PROGRAM: RARE EARTHS. The fourth exhibition in Sachs‘ Space Program series, a thirteen-year exploration of the boundaries of other worlds and human possibilities, SPACE PROGRAM: RARE EARTHS will be on display from 19 September 2021 to 10 April 2022.

Sachs will transform the impressive Hall of Contemporary Art at the Deichtorhallen, utilizing over 3,000 square meters of gallery space to create an interactive landscape featuring original sculptures and bricolage works. Visitors will be invited to undergo an indoctrination process in which they will prove their capabilities through a series of tasks and questions and thus earn the right to participate in the installation as a member of Sachs‘ team, witnessing iconic elements from past missions, including the Landing Excursion Module (LEM) and Mission Control, as well as new installations and a live demonstration of the program‘s flight plan. Once indoctrinated, supplicants will be encouraged to submit to the Ritual of Transubstantiation.

By separating themselves from their mobile devices, they will provide vital contributions to Sachs‘ study of our mental interconnectivity, addiction to technology, and successful harvest of The Abyss. In the beginning of the exhibition, on 18 September, Sachs and his studio team will activate the sculptures through a so called marathon demonstrations of protocol and procedure, including scientific exploration and mineral extraction on Vesta‘s surface, food delivery, entertainment, human waste disposal, and the ritual of the Japanese tea ceremony. In SPACE PROGRAM: RARE EARTHS, Sachs‘ astronauts head to VESTA, the brightest and closest asteroid to Earth, with one goal: to harvest the protoplanet‘s rare earth minerals, needed to perpetuate human‘s addiction to technology. Sachs and his crew have engineered all that is necessary for survival from plywood, foam core, screws, hot glue, and various other tools of their trade.

Deichtorstraße 1, 20095 Hamburg

Selected Issues of Lodown feat. Tom Sachs will be available at the Bookshop.