Crypto terms are “in many ways poisoned”, says artist Tom Sachs
by James · February 25, 2023
When it comes to the world of crypto, renowned artist Tom Sachs doesn’t care for the overarching label that is Web3, including certain terms like crypto or NFT.
“I’m not too interested in those words,” he said Decrypt. “I think they are – in many ways – poisoned.”
The sculptor – whose contemporary art is featured in museums and galleries around the world – said he is more focused on how artists in the space utilize blockchain technology to enhance their creative process than associations of industry lingo.
“I’m interested in the people in this area who want to expand their values of things that they’re already interested in and use this Web3 as another tool,” he said.
NFTs – unique digital tokens that indicate ownership of an object, often digital art – are a core element of Sachs Rocket Factory, a platform where digital rocket components are bought and sold with the features of common brands such as Coca-Cola and Budweiser.
Last year, Budweiser bought Sachs beer-branded rocket for eight Ethereum and temporary changed his profile picture on Twitter to the artwork. Sachs described the company’s inclusion as part of a commentary on consumerism.
“You can define yourself through the things you consume,” Sachs said, referring to the project. “The 30 brands we chose for Rocket Factory are the brands that make up who I am – it’s a kind of self-portrait.”
The project allows participants to assemble these rocket components to create a Completed Rocket, an entirely new piece of digital art. And this Completed Rocket can then be launched and restored in the form of a matching sculpture, where the NFT is updated with information about the endeavor, such as video and metadata.
Sachs described the use of NFTs by artists as a grassroots movement, where he has learned from people in the Web3 community.
“Our friends have been our teachers,” Sachs said. “I’ve learned how to navigate this space through people, and in turn I’ve taught others.”
As NFTs have gained traction in the art world, many museums have added them to their collections, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which recently added 22 tokenized digital artworks from the pseudonymous collector Cozomo de’ Medici.
LACMA’s announcement the mirrors Sachs’ comments on Web3 terms in some ways, as the museum avoided the term NFT when talking about the art, choosing to refer to the NFTs it recently accepted as “blockchain art” or “art on the chain.”
Before its recent addition, LACMA already housed other forms of digital art, including an NFT from Sachs Rocket Factory.
In a interview with Joel Ferree, LACMA’s Art + Technology Lab program director, Sachs discussed some of the benefits of technology in creating new forms of art.
“What excites me about NFTs is that the rules, the limits, are transparent and concrete throughout the blockchain,” Sachs said. “No one person owns the information, and you can see the digital fingerprints of everyone who was there before you.”
