“The Final Frontier,” an art installation by American artist Tom Sachs, was one of the main attractions at NFT Paris. The largest NFT event in Europe took place on February 24 and 25 at the Grand Palais éphémère, just below the Eiffel Tower. To create this artwork, Tom Sachs partnered with the metaverse platform Monaverse. Monaverse is the leading platform for creating 3D worlds for digital social experiences. We had the opportunity to meet with Tom Sachs and the Monaverse team. Read on to learn more about this innovative exhibit and activation.
The latest frontier from Tom Sachs, powered by Mona
‘The Final Frontier’ was a truly immersive experience. In fact, hundreds of people waited patiently to get a “space passport.” These passports were physically printed in front of them, giving access to the allow list of the new NFT release scheduled for March. Through this, minters will have the chance to buy an apartment on the space stations, some of them based on Le Crobusier’s housing unit. He does notOnce subscribed, participants became citizens of the intergalactic metaverse. An avatar appeared on a giant LED screen (powered by Mona) to signify this citizenship.
What is the rocket factory?
The Rocket Factory is “a transdimensional manufacturing plant” imagined by artist Tom Sachs. The collection started with a free mint “Test Flight Crew Patch”. Following this, on August 1, 2021, Sachs released NFTs representing three types of rocket components.
Additionally, holders who own three components could request the creation of a physical counterpart to their Rocket. For a fee of 0.1 ETH, the rocket could be launched. The last physical launch of the rocket took place last August. After launch, youThe Rocket Factory team recovered the rockets and gave holders three options. Holders could choose to send the physical rocket to them, donate it to the “Museum Cabinet”, or destroy it.
The second phase of the “mission” project took place last June, with the fall of 4,997 “Rocas de Marte”. Now, “The Last Frontier” is the third phase of the project. Unveiled at NFT Paris, it allowed Rocket Factory NFT holders, or people who minted a passport at the event, to buy apartments on a space station.
Who is Tom Sachs?
Tom Sachs, whose artwork is on display at prestigious venues including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, is well known for his mixed-media sculptures inspired by modern icons. He began experimenting with NFTs in the summer of 2021 with his Rocket Factory NFT project. Sachs created a gamified experience around the concept of space exploration. “The Final Frontier” is an interactive installation that invites the public to play with the artist and become a member of the Rocket Factory community.
“The digital token is an expression of conceptual art, it is another way of doing the same type of art that we have been doing for more than thirty years”, says Tom Sachs. “At the end of the sixties, artists did not know what to do, they had done everything possible. So they started making rules. Yoko Ono, for example, started making art with instructions, and Rocket Factory is another form of that. It is an extension of that kind of work, and we will continue, before, during and beyond.”
Using the Monaverse platform, Tom Sachs experimented with the possibilities offered by the metaverse, creating a fully immersive experience where the audience is fully integrated into the creative process. Speaking about the decision to work within Web3, Tom Sachs said: “The best thing about this space is that for the first time in my 35-year career, I felt part of a grassroots community. It feels like it’s the beginning. Everything fails, the wifi doesn’t work here at NFT Paris and we can’t send text messages. But that’s how it is when it comes to something new. We are learning, adapting and improvising. In the future we will look back and say, do you remember when the wi-fi didn’t work?
What is the Monaverse?
Monaverse, created by Mona, is a leading 3D world creation platform that empowers creators to imagine new digital experiences. Its chief executive, Justin Mellilo, says it aims to “be the middle of the metaverse.” “We are an open platform for decentralized 3D assets and immersive experiences. We are focused on building the tools and infrastructure to empower creators or developers who want to launch their own immersive 3D experience.” he explains.
With Monaverse, creators can launch any kind of virtual experience on the platform, really easily. “They just need to import their 3D assets into the Mona SDK, where they can use something called visual scripts to start adding more interactive elements to their scene. And so with this SDK, creators can create a complete gaming experience. It could be a static environment, a narrative world, a live performance stadium, or a piece of virtual architecture… Once your assets are in this SDK, we have some tools that make it easy for you to click a button to export your scene . .”
In the coming months, Mona is aiming to expand to the AR side. Mona will offer an infrastructure where creators can create experiences and share them across desktop, mobile, web, AR and VR. “We’ll also be enhancing our actual playable app, aka Monaverse, which can now be accessed via desktop, but will soon have AR and VR as well.”
It’s clear that Monaverse’s ambition is to be a major player in the future of the internet. “What we’re going to see is more and more 3D content evolve out of those 2D web pages and start to seamlessly merge with the world around us through augmented reality or mixed reality.” believes Justin Mellilo. “We see that as the ultimate future of how the Internet and these experiences will evolve.”
How did the collaboration between Tom Sachs and Mona come about?
When Monaverse first spoke to artist Tom Sachs, Rocket Factory was working on different experiments to expand the universe surrounding their rocket collection. “They started allowing users to mint these NFTs from rocks from Mars,” explains Justin Melillo. “That’s where they started thinking about being able to allow members of their community to mint planets and entire worlds out of these rocks from Mars.”
So Tom Sachs decided to create 11,000 worlds in Mona. “Many projects promise a Metaverse somewhere on the roadmap, but the Tom Sachs Rocket Factory is delivering on its promise to build 11,000 planets that its community can buy, own, and use as a foundation for massively multiplayer online experiences through Monaverse.”says Justin Melillo. “The Final Frontier is the best implementation of an immersive metaverse experience for any community we’ve seen to date.”
Final Thoughts on ‘The Last Frontier’
The Final Frontier was a captivating experience for attendees at NFT Paris. Sach’s artistic vision, coupled with Mona’s capabilities as a platform, created an experience like no other. The interactive installation showcased the possibilities offered by the metaverse. Furthermore, he created an immersive experience that fully integrated the audience into the creative process. Pushing the boundaries of contemporary art, Tom Sachs has created conceptual artwork that resonates with current times, presenting experiences that are sure to last a lifetime.
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