Sony Outsider (by mix media artist Tom Sachs), is a life size replica of Fat Man, the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 1945. The "bomb" is covered in a glossy white plexiglas and sports a Sony logo. Inside the capsule, it's even more perplexing. It's a hotel like room with rich materials like white leather and equipped with the hottest gizmos from Japan's premier electronics company (from 1999 that is - which is when this piece was created).
The purpose? Tom Sachs is fascinated by the seductive power of branding. By slapping the Sony logo all over and in the bomb, the device becomes ironic. What was once a destructive force is now nothing more than a toy; a gadget. It brings to mind the fact that YES the bomb crushed the city but Sony had a hand in rebuilding Japan after the war. In a sense, Japan conquered the bomb years later with its tech wizardry and gadgetry power.
Leave a comment