The art installation The Last Frontier by American artist Tom Sachs was one of the main attractions of NFT Paris. Europe’s largest NFT event took place on February 24-25 at the Grand Palais éphémère, beneath the Eiffel Tower.  To create this artwork, Tom Sachs collaborated with the metaverse platform Monaverse. Monaverse is the leading 3D world building platform for social digital experiences. We had the opportunity to meet Tom Sachs and the Monaverse team.

The Last Frontier by Tom Sachs, powered by Mona

The Last Frontier is a truly immersive experience. In fact, hundreds of people waited patiently to receive a "space passport." These passports were actually printed in front of them, providing a permission list to access the new NFT airdrop scheduled for March. In this way, minters will have the opportunity to buy an apartment on the space station - some of which are based on Le Crobusier's housing units. Then, once they subscribe, participants become citizens of the interstellar virtual world. An avatar appears on a giant LED screen (powered by Mona) to indicate this citizenship.

What is a Rocket Factory?

The Rocket Factory is "a hyperdimensional manufacturing plant" imagined by artist Tom Sachs. The series began with a free minted "Test Flight Crew Patch." Then, on August 1, 2021, Sachs released NFTs representing three rocket components.

Additionally, holders who own all three components can request that a physical counterpart of their rocket be created. For a fee of just 0.1 ETH, the rocket can be launched. The last physical rocket launch took place last August. After the launch, the Rocket Factory team retrieved the rocket and offered holders three options. Holders can choose to have the physical rocket shipped to them, donated to a "museum cabinet," or destroyed.

The second phase of the “Mission” project began last June with the release of 4,997 “Mars rocks.” Now, “The Final Frontier” is the third phase of the project. Unveiled at NFT Paris, it allows Rocket Factory NFT holders — or those who minted their passports at the event — to buy an apartment on the space station.

Who is Tom Sachs?

Tom Sachs, whose work has been exhibited at prestigious venues such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art, is known for his mixed media sculptures inspired by modern icons.  Back in the summer of 2021, he began experimenting with NFTs through 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 viewers to play with the artist and become part of the Rocket Factory community.

“The digital tokens are an expression of conceptual art, it’s another way of doing the same kind of art we’ve been doing for over thirty years,” said Tom Sachs. “In the late sixties, artists didn’t know what to do, they made everything possible. So they started making rules. For example, Yoko Ono started making art based on instructions, and Rocket Factory is another form of that. It’s an extension of the kind of work we’ll be doing before, during, and after.”

By using the Monaverse platform, Tom Sachs experimented with the possibilities offered by the Metaverse, creating a fully immersive experience that fully engages the audience in the creative process. Talking about the decision to work in Web3, Tom Sachs said:  “The best thing about this space is that for the first time in my 35-year career, I feel part of a grassroots community. It feels like the beginning. Everything went wrong, the wifi at NFT Paris didn’t work, and we couldn’t send text messages. But that’s what it’s like when it’s new. We’re learning, adapting, and improvising. In the future we’ll look back and say, remember when wi-fi didn’t work?”

What is Monaverse?

Founded by Mona, Monaverse is a leading 3D world-building platform that enables creators to imagine new digital experiences. Its CEO Justin Melillo says it aims to “be the medium for the metaverse”. “We are an open platform for decentralized 3D assets and immersive experiences. We are focused on building tools and infrastructure to support creators or developers who want to launch their own immersive 3D experiences”, he explains.

With Monaverse, creators can launch any type of virtual experience on the platform in a very simple way. "They just need to import their 3D assets into Mona's SDK, where they can use something called visual scripting to start adding more interactive elements to their scenes. So using this SDK, creators can build a complete game experience. It can be a static environment, a story world, a live performance stage, or a virtual building... Once their assets are in this SDK, we have some tools that make it easy for them to export their scenes with the click of a button"

In the coming months, Mona aims to expand into AR. Mona will provide an infrastructure where creators can build experiences and share them across desktop, mobile, web, AR, and VR. “We’ll also be enhancing our actual playable app, aka Monaverse, which is accessible today from desktop, but soon you’ll have AR and VR too.”

It’s clear that Monaverse’s ambition is to become a major player in the future of the internet. “We’re going to see more and more 3D content evolve from 2D web pages and start to blend seamlessly with the world around us through augmented reality or mixed reality,” believes Justin Melillo. “We think this is 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 with artist Tom Sachs, Rocket Factory was conducting different experiments to expand the universe around their rocket collectibles. “They started allowing users to mint these Mars rock NFTs,” Justin Melillo explained. “That’s where they started thinking about being able to allow members of their community to mint entire planets and worlds out of these Mars rocks.”

Tom Sachs then decided to create 11,000 worlds on Monaverse. “Many projects promise the Metaverse somewhere on the roadmap, but Tom Sachs Rocket Factory is delivering on its promise of building 11,000 planets that their community can purchase, own, and use as the basis for massively multiplayer online experiences through Monaverse,” said Justin Mellilo.  “The final Frontier is the best implementation of an immersive Metaverse experience in any community we’ve seen to date.”

Final Thoughts on The Last Frontier

Final Frontier was a fascinating experience for the attendees of NFT Paris. Sach's artistic vision and Mona's capabilities as a platform came together to create a one-of-a-kind experience. The interactive installation showcases the possibilities offered by the metaverse. Moreover, it creates an immersive experience that fully involves the viewer in the creative process. By pushing the limits of contemporary art, Tom Sachs has created a conceptual artwork that resonates with today's times, presenting an experience that is sure to last a lifetime.