Tom Sachs Releases TDK Cassette Zine Following Exhibition at Baldwin Gallery
Press play on Tom Sachs’s love letter to the cassette.
Tom Sachs turns his focus to the perennial magic of cassette tapes, releasing a curated collection of prints entitled in his new TDK Cassette Zine.
Vinyl records and cassettes have seen a romantic resurgence in pop culture, returning to the homes of nostalgic Millennial and Gen Z cratediggers. Sachs pays tribute to this phenomenon in his latest exhibition, “Cassette Only,” held at the Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Colorado.
The zine is a reflective medium allowing artists to self-publish expeditious tangible art. Sachs honors this sentiment in the TDK Cassette Zine, exalting the object’s intersection with culture and the mystical, in-between moments of art imitating life. Re-recorded cassettes of estranged lovers were the precursor of Spotify playlists, providing an evocative listening experience, a sonic static-and-hiss intrinsic to the tape itself.
View this post on Instagram
The exhibition showcases Sachs’s growing evolution through the DIY punk-rock scene and his examination of the iconography surrounding everyday settings. Sachs approaches the cassette as a cultural artifact, zoning in on custom vinyl sleeves, O-cards and prints featured in cassette singles.
The zine curates 2.5 H x 4 W full-color J-card prints into a contemporary cassette tape: “TDX,” “Memorex,” “Maxell” and “JVC” namesakes conjure images of teenagers compiling personalized playlists for their friends and loved ones.
Read more about the “Cassette Only” exhibit and shop the TDK Cassette Zine at Tom Sachs’s official website.
Tom Sachs: “Cassette Only”
Where: Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO
When: 26 December, 2021 – 12 February, 2022
In other art news, watch Daniel Arsham’s teaser for “A Ripple in Time,” an anime short featured in the namesake five-series exhibition opening this February.
