Museum of the Moon

Overview

Prepare to stare at the moon in all of its glory — up close, without a telescope and without zooming into space. Measuring seven metres in diameter and featuring renderings of the celestial body's surface based on NASA imagery, the Museum of the Moon is a detailed installation by UK-based artist Luke Jerram. The giant sculpture has been touring the world since 2016, displaying in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, plenty of spots around Europe, and also around Australia.

Between Friday, September 2–Sunday, September 11, it'll add West Village in West End to its orbit. Inspired by Jerram's time living in Bristol and "noticing the huge tidal variation as he cycled over the Avon Cut each day" according to the Museum of the Moon's website, the artwork recreates the moon at a scale of approximately 1:500,000, with each centimetre equating to five kilometres of the lunar surface.

If you're wondering just how intricate the 120dpi imagery is, the high-resolution NASA photograph that it uses is 21 metres wide, and was taken by by a satellite carrying the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. The spherical sculpture is lit from within, so it'll add a glow when it comes to Brisbane during its ten-day stopover.

Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram, Greenwich & Docklands Festival, UK, 2017. Photo by @edsimmons /  @visitgreenwich.

Museum of the Moon also combines its imagery and light with a surround sound piece created by composer and sound designer Dan Jones, and just how each spot displays it is up to them. Basically, it's never the exact same installation twice — so if you've seen it before, you still need to see it again.

It hits Brisbane in 2022 as part of this year's full Brisbane Festival program — opening from 4–10pm on launch day; 11am–10pm on Saturdays the installation's second Friday; and 11am–8pm on Sundays, as well as Tuesday–Thursday.

On Tuesday, September 6, there'll be free live performances from 6.30pm, too — and when Museum of the Moon's stay is up, Jerram's earth-focused Gaia will take over the floating globe, followed by Mars.

Museum of The Moon

Top image: Satya Nayak.