Journey Inside 'A Space Program'

“An intricately hand-made journey to Mars” is a very intriguing -- and accurate -- description of a recent work by artist Tom Sachs. Sachs didn’t actually send anyone to Mars, but he did create an incredible simulation. You might call it an interstellar performance piece. He and his team filled the huge Park Avenue Armory in New York with what looks like a real NASA space program: space suits, a space capsule, labs and mission control. It’s an incredibly detailed mashup of homemade and high-tech; some parts are fun and funky and others look amazingly accurate. Cameras were rolling when the team demonstrated their trip to Mars for audiences in New York. The result is a film called “A Space Program.” It will be at the Cinefamily on Fairfax this weekend.