Sculptures for the Moon and Beyond.......
In an unusual collaboration between telecommunications and Space entrepreneur and artist Stephen Day*, based in Washington, DC, USA, and internationally renowned sculpter Anilore Banon**, based in Paris, the concept was born in 2006 to place a large piece of sculpture on the Moon, roughly commensurate with the planned building of a U.S. lunar base by 2020.
As a precursor to erecting the first large sculpture on the Moon, symbolizing humankind's quest for Space Exploration and an expression of our collective humanity and desire for peaceful coexistence, several prototype sculptures are being developed by Ms. Banon. It is hoped that some of these lunar prototype sculptures will be sponsored by institutions such as the State of Hawaii, that are proposing to build simulated facilities in the US and elsewhere in preparation for the first human lunar habitat.
* http://www.callowayart.com/gallery.php?E=ID_exhibit&T=current&ID=16
and www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk
** www.anilorebanon.com
Some history
Eduardo Kac summarized the progress of art in Space:
"Artworks have been taken aboard spacecrafts since 1969, when "The Moon Museum." a small ceramic tile with drawings by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, was carried aboard a Saturn V rocket on Apollo 12. A significant development was the permanent installation of a sculpture by artist Paul van Hoeydonk (Antwerp. b. 1925) on the surface of the moon in 1971, entitled "Fallen Astronaut" (aluminum, 8.5 cm long), the work was placed at the Hadley-Apennine landing site by American astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin (Apollo 15). Next to the sculpture, inserted in the lunar soil is a commemorative plaque, a homage to astronauts and cosmonauts who lost their lives in the course of space exploration. In 1989 Lowry Burgess flew objects on the Shuttle as part of a conceptual artwork entitled "Boundless Cubic Lunar Aperture."
