Tom Sachs' biggest, baddest boom boxes (pictures)

It took a while, but boom boxes cultural currency finally caught the attention of a major New York arts institution, the Brooklyn Museum, which is currently hosting Tom Sachs "Boombox Retrospective, 1999-2016."

Here's Sachs' "Presidential Vampire Booth" and speakers hunkered down in the main space.

One of the gigantic horn speakers flanking the "Presidential Vampire Booth."

"Toyan's Arsenal" loomed large -- it's 144 inches wide and 96 inches tall (3.6 by 2.4 meters). Its clean white cabinet with black drivers made for a striking presence.

One picture can't do full justice to "Defender," so I included two. This beast's speakers are constructed out of old refrigerators, but Defender wasn't playing when I visited the show, which was too bad. I like the idea of using old refrigerators as speaker cabinets. The jet black speakers and old arcade game system looked like it could easily fill a decent sized club with sound.

"Guru's Yardstyle," replete with vintage Bose 901 speakers, turntable and McIntosh electronics, stacked on a hand truck, made me smile. Model One is clearly the most audiophile-oriented piece.

"Sarah" sports just a pair of speakers and a sword perched on top, just in case!

A boom box to eat Big Macs by.

A NASA boom box -- fairly restrained by Sachs' standards!

"Phonkey" has a lunar lander spacecrafty look, thanks to its large solar panels flanking a 1980s boom box. Sachs' art definitely has a sense of humor.

Another NASA-inspired boom box, configured as a truck!

This is a detail of the volume control from one of Sachs boom boxes -- like "Spinal Tap" it goes up to 11.

Bonus pic: the Brooklyn Museum on a beautiful April day.