The race to put art on the moon

Two space cadets are hoping for a big pay day by putting works of art on the moon. Chris Carter reports

Jeff Koons
(Image credit: © Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Until now, the focus of lunar exploration has been to get to the moon, and then bring stuff back – stuff like a bag full of dust for scientific study, for example (see below). But now, there’s an altogether different kind of space race under way – the race to take stuff to the lunar surface. Stuff like art. It began when Nasa asked robotics companies to come up with pod-like lunar landers to ferry equipment to the moon ahead of its own planned trip to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, says Kelly Crow in The Wall Street Journal. At least two of those companies also plan to be the first to send up art. (In fact, that race may have already have been won. Legend has it that a postage-stamp-sized ceramic tile called Moon Museum, etched with drawings by artists including Andy Warhol, surreptitiously went up with Apollo 12, in 1969. It may still be attached to the lunar module, but somebody needs to go up there to prove it.)

Jeff Koons, the American artist who currently holds the record for the living artist who has sold the most expensive artwork, is intent on winning the race. His cuboid installation called Moon Phases, which is packed with miniature and almost weightless moons in various phases of their lunar cycle, is to hitch a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket later this year. Koons is racing against Sacha Jafri, a London-based artist, who last year created the world’s largest painting. His artwork, a thin metal plate engraved with an embracing couple and 88 hearts, called We Rise Together, is to go up on a rocket designed by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. This has suffered delays, but also hopes to fly by the end of 2022.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.