Prada probably decided that Tom Sachs was a wonderful PR after having seen his Prada Death Camp, the model of a concentration camp, made from a Prada hat box. They even offered the artist an unlimited supply of shoeboxes for the Prada Toilet. Sachs now has a show at the Prada Foundation in Milan.

Balaenoptera Musculus and The Island were conceived especially for the 1,500 sqm of the Fondazione space.

The Island is a reconstruction of the command area on the bridge of an aircraft carrier, inspired by Enterprise CVN 65, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (Sachs has dealt with nuclear before, see Sony Outsider (Gajin), a true-to-scale replica of the Fat Man, the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945). The Island is equipped with working radar, monitor, cameras and radio devices. Inside the cabin are everyday necessities, including cigarettes, alcohol and a toilet.

The other new work is the Balaenoptera Musculus, a reconstruction of an 18-metre long blue whale. Sachs took his inspiration from the whale model hanging at the American Museum of Natural Histoy in NYc.

There’s also a Delinquency Chamber, endowed with every comfort: huge fridge full of beers, ashtray and extractor of smoke, stereosystem, waste bin and the videogame GTA to play with.

Other works on display: rifles which do not look much as they were made with recycled materials but they are fully functionning, a moon rocket, a collection of modified knives and more fire weapons.

The show runs until June 15, at the Fondazione Prada, Via Antonio Fogazzaro 36 – Milano.
More images of Tom Sachs work (some are mine and the beuatiful ones, taken by Attilio Maranzano, are from the Press Kit i requested when they told me “No picture, no picture!”) and of the opening of the show in Milan.
More about the artist in an interview and on Kultureflash.