Went to Space Camp and all I got were these shoes. Thanks Tom..?
A Nike Space Camp tale
Space Camp is an art installation presented by Tom Sachs and Nike for the exclusive release of version 2.0 of the Mars Yard shoe. The original Mars Yard released in 2012 and is a grail of many early sneakerheads. Version 2 is built to be beat but also built to last as long as you want it to.
Preparing for takeoff
Fast forward to hopping off the ferry, I found a guy with a Nike staff shirt, he was on a cart looking for people to drop off at the venue. I knew that Governors Island was large so I brought my board to attempt to cruise through, as it turned out they provide a couple of boards for you to get to the location. Had a quick chat with the the staff guy in the cart gave me the directions, they encourage you to take the harder route so I skated. Since I skated I cut it close to my session. I milled around in line waiting for check in and to get my pic taken for a badge. Some kid brought his parents, didn’t know how that was going to end up.
Indoctrination
We file into a makeshift theater erected in the warehouse where there are headphones over the seats, each seat has a name and set of numbers on the back (assuming this is something to film).
The chair I sat in had the name Marvin. The headphones have music pumping through it, they’re independent from the area’s sound system. They only play the clean versions, mostly recent hip hop hits and some old school classics. N.W.A and such, also some songs that I know are sampled from current hits.
We’re instructed to put the headphones back on and immerse ourselves in the cinematic experience (I was jamming for a min before that). The film directed by Van Neistat follows the protagonist “Street Scum” through her journey to find and fulfill herself. A lot of artistic insight was put into the film and I commend both Tom Sachs and Van Neistat greatly. A scene in the film has a bit of gore in it, the kid who brought his parents probably didn’t warn his mom about it cause she walked out for a bit (no shame, took me by surprise too).
When we finish the film we get a speech from one of the staff workers on what we’re gonna do.
Step 1 : Find the bag with your name on it
Step 2: Take the clothes out the bag and change
Step 3: Put all your belongings and cell in the bag, they’ll take it to the finish line.
During the processing period they stress the idea that you have three options, Easy, Hard, or Skip, Failure is also possible and inevitable, it is a part of the challenges and a part of life.
3..2..1..BLAST OFF
Challenges
They aren’t so bad, you can skip any of them you aren’t judged for it. Super supportive of all.
1: Climb a rope (hard) and climbing (easy) the goal is to ring a bell at the top.
I haven’t climbed a rope in a min so it was low key struggle for a min, but I got close to the top and made a sort of last ditch lunge.
2: Control a helicopter mini challenge where you control (via some levers) a helicopter that picks up and drops off a payload at different spots (3 if hard), (2 if intermediate), (1 if easy).
3: A grown up concept of the floor is lava where you jump on top or over plexiglass rocks to get onto a platform where you fire a paintball gun at a moving target (they encourage you to hit large but you can go small). To get to the next station you hop across a few more rocks to avoid the lava.
4: Push ups! Decide between clapping (hard) and regular (easy).
5: Draw a line that follows a groove and don’t lift your pen from the paper!
6: Get some squats in. In between the squats they want you to yell “The reward for good work is more work”. (Do it you’ll get a kick out of it)
7: Its not really a challenge theres instructions above, the most important knot a bowline.
8: Short obstacle courses where you do a few lunges and slide down the hood of a truck
9: Pendulum maze, where you toe a line and try to make it through without touching anything.
The whole place nails the space feel with the foil and reflectiveness, all while avoiding suspended objects that are also moving.
10: A trapeze over a water obstacle or a quick revisit to the floor is lava, but this time you’ll land in the ocean and drown.
Quite a few people got wet, I got the most snippy response from one of the staff members when I asked “Do i have to get wet?” when I saw the water obstacle. I had thought you had to wade through or something along those lines.
11: Stationary Logs no rolls, hop from log to log trying to maintain your balance and jump to the finish line to earn your badge and retrieve your belongings.
BONUS
Do a few of the challenges that “Street Scum” was involved with in the movie.
What size are you?
My experience with retrieving the shoes was slightly different, instead of going to 21 Mercer to pick them up we got to buy them on site (bring a physical photo ID please, it helps the rest of us out). You don’t have to buy the shoes if you don’t want to, but why go through the course if you can’t reward yourself a bit.
Thanks Tom Sachs & Nike!
Overall, I thought of it as a great experience. From the film to the course it was fun and exciting. You should really tackle the hard challenges, just challenge yourself a bit and remember failure is only a part of the process. The whole installation made me feel more committed to the process of getting the shoe, like I put in that time and I’m going to wear it like a badge.
Going to wear these to mars and back, once again thank you to Tom Sachs & Nike for not only putting together a great shoe but a great experience overall.
“Posers need not apply”
