MoonArk
(2008–Present)MoonArk by Lowry Burgess and the Moon Arts Group :: Supported by FRFAF from STUDIO for Creative Inquiry on Vimeo.
In 2021, Carnegie Mellon University is sending the first museum to the Moon aboard an Astrobotic lander carried by a Space X Falcon 9 rocket. The Moon Arts Group’s project, called “The MoonArk,” is a gift of life and hope to the Moon embodied by all the arts, enlarging the lunar mission to ponder how the Moon stirs the tides, the growth patterns of all life, the rhythms of society, and how the Moon always continues to pull us further into the heavens.
The MoonArk is a highly collaborative and massively integrated sculpture that poetically sparks wonderment through the integration of the arts, humanities, sciences, and technologies. Comprised of four independent 2”h x 2”dia chambers and weighing a combined total of 6 ounces, it contains hundreds of images, poems, music, nano-objects, mechanisms, and earthly samples intertwined through complex narratives that blur the boundaries between worlds seen and unseen. It is designed to direct our attention from the Earth outward, into the cosmos and beyond and reflect back to Earth as an endless dialogue that speaks to our context within the universe. Impossibly small, broadly diverse, hyper-light, yet incredibly enduring, the MoonArk is designed and engineered to last thousands of years to project humanity in a most beautiful and highly significant way.
Beginning in 2008, the MoonArk project is presently in its final assembly phase, having successfully passed space-readiness thermal and vacuum testing. Fabrication of the MoonArk has instigated original innovation and invention of digital fabrication techniques, ultra-high resolution imaging and many innovations in material science, technology, and the arts, engaging colleagues across the world in inspiring ways. The project involves 18 universities and organizations, 60 team members, and 150 contributing artists, designers, educators, scientists, choreographers, poets, writers and musicians.
Twin MoonArks have been created; one for the Moon, and one to remain here on Earth to travel across the United States, in Europe, and Asia – aiming to reach millions of people through digital and print publications and curated exhibitions.
Learn more about the MoonArk at http://moonarts.org
Made possible with support from the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier Grant#2017-001.
