Tom Sachs Timeline

The SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen shows the first retrospective exhibition of the American artist Tom Sachs (born 1966) in Germany in over 15 years. Tom Sachs is known for his bricolage objects made of found materials and objects, where traces of his work remain clearly visible. The artist borrows his motifs from everyday culture, the consumer world, or history: Hello Kitty figures, the corporate design of McDonald’s, the space shuttle or even Chanel handbags. They are appropriated, decontextualized, and redesigned in his own aesthetics of the self-made.

In addition to works from the Schaufler collection as well as international loans, a part of the show will be dedicated to the multipart installation Tea Ceremony, which has already been exhibited in the USA and Japan. Tee house, garden, sinks, koi pond, tea cups, and further utensils have been elaborately reproduced. As a further highlight, Sachs will design a large-format sculpture specifically for the museum: the twin towers of the World Trade Center before September 11, 2001.

In the more than four-meter-long wall work Timeline, which gives the show its name, the artist traces his life’s path. Not only does the timeline include depictions of his own works and biographical events as well as documentary photographs from politics and world events, but also album covers and book titles. All these elements and influences are the basis from which Tom Sachs builds his alternative worlds. With inventiveness and irony, the artist critically questions the value of products and the meaning of existing rituals and ways of life.

More info here.