The Moon as a Cultural Destination

Arthur Woods / Dec 28, 2013

On December 14, the Chinese successfully landed their Yutu (Jade Rabbit) robot rover on the Moon as a part of their Chang'e-3 mission. This was the first soft landing on the Moon since 1976.  The spacecraft - named after Chang’e  - the goddess of the Moon in Chinese mythology -  is a follow-up to the Chang’e 1 & 2 lunar orbiters. The rover was named Yutu - which in Chinese literally means "Jade Rabbit" after the mythological rabbit that lives on the Moon as a pet of the Moon goddess. This name was selected via an online poll of 3.4 million voters.  The use of symbolic names related to old myths and beliefs as well as the involvement of the public, makes the landing of the Jade Rabbit more than a remarkable technical feat but also an extension of the cultural dimension inherent in human space activities. [1,2,3]

This recent event makes us look ahead to the Google Lunar XPRIZE for private adventurers to send robots to the moon in the next few years. The Google Lunar XPRIZE aims to create a new “Apollo” moment for the current generation and to spur continuous lunar exploration with $40 Million in incentive based prizes. In order to win this money, a private company must land safely on the surface of the Moon, travel  500 meters above, below, or on the Lunar surface, and send back two “Mooncasts” to Earth. Teams may also compete for Bonus Prizes such as exploring lunar artifacts or surviving the lunar night, and can be awarded prize money earlier by completing terrestrial or in-space milestones. All of this must be completed by December 31, 2015. [4]

Approximately twenty teams are still actively pursuing the competition. One of the teams, led by Astrobotic Inc., has invited a team of artists to join their endeavor. The Moon Arts Group located at the Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute plan to deploy a suite of artworks on the lunar surface led by space artist and professor Lowry Burgess at Carnegie Mellon. They intend to direct their robot lander to make a series of choreographed movements, to deposit an artistic payload on the Moon and to interact with Earth via high-bandwidth communications.  The goal of the Moon Arts Group is to envision creative ways of establishing a link between the Earth and Moon and, as such, to advance the presence of human culture in space by facilitating opportunities for art and exploration.[5]

We received our first glimpse of our planet from the Moon in the historic image “Earthrise” photograph made on  August 23, 1966 by NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1. On December 7, 1972, the crew of Apollo 17 made the famous “Blue Marble”  photograph of the whole Earth taken at a distance of about 45,000 km (28,000 mi) which has since become a powerful symbol of environmental consciousness and the globalization of our culture. In addition to these iconic cultural images, we should not forget the artifacts nor the artworks that are on the Moon.

Of course we focus on Apollo 11, the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon on July 20, 1969.  Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent approximately 21/2hours on the lunar surface and collected 21.5 kilograms of lunar materials for return to Earth while Michael Collins piloted the command spacecraft in lunar orbit. In Neil Armstrong's PPK (Personal Preference Kit) was a piece of wood from the Wright brothers' 1903 airplane's left propeller and a piece of fabric from its wing, along with a diamond-studded astronaut pin originally given to Deke Slayton by the widows of the Apollo 1 crew. This pin had been intended to be flown on Apollo 1 and given to Slayton after the mission but following the disastrous launch pad fire and subsequent funerals, the widows gave the pin to Slayton and Armstrong took it on Apollo 11. When they returned to the orbiting command spacecraft, they left behind several scientific instruments, an American flag, an Apollo 1 mission patch and a plaque attached to the Lunar Module Descent Stage ladder which was signed by the crew and US President Nixon stating :[6,7]

“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July, 1969. AD. We Came in peace for all mankind”

All of the hardware from the precursor US and Soviet missions to the Moon and that from subsequent Apollo missions that is still on the Moon today, as well as the astronaut’s footprints and the tire tracks from the lunar rover are historical artifacts marking our culture’s extension unto another planet. Quite significantly, but much less known, is the fact that art also made the journey to the Moon, although in a clandestine and unofficial manner.  

In 1969, The Moon Museum, a small ceramic tile or wafer on which American artists Robert Rauschenberg,  Andy Warhol,  Claus Oldenberg , John Chamberlain, Forrest Myers and David Novros all drew designs was covertly attached to a leg of the Intrepid landing module, and subsequently left on the Moon during Apollo 12. The initiator of the project, Forrest Myers tried to get NASA to approve and sanction the project, but as NASA was non-committal, Meyers eventually contacted a technician working at the Kennedy Space Center who apparently found a way to smuggle the small ceramic tile onto the leg of the landing module. Two days before the launch, Meyers received a telegram from Cape Canaveral, Florida stating: “YOUR ON’ A.O.K. ALL SYSTEMS GO,” and signed “JOHN F.”  [8, 9]

On Aug. 2, 1971, Commander David Scott of the Apollo 15 mission placed a 3 1/2-inch-tall (8.5 cm) aluminum sculpture and a plaque onto the dusty surface of a small crater near his parked lunar rover.  Called The Fallen Astronaut, a small human shaped figurine designed by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonk  which was intended to commemorate those astronauts and cosmonauts who had lost their lives in the furtherance of space exploration. The plaque was designed and made separately by Scott and, together with the small sculpture, carried to the Moon in a pocket in his spacesuit, probably as part of his own PPK. Van Hoeydonck, after a meeting with the Apollo astronauts,  was given a set of design restrictions: that the sculpture was to be both lightweight and sturdy, capable of withstanding the temperature extremes of the Moon; it could not be identifiably male or female, nor of any identifiable ethnic group. The Apollo 15 astronauts and the artist apparently had an agreement that this event would not be publicized nor commercialized which resulted in some controversy in subsequent years.[ 10,11,12]

Two recent articles about the Fallen Astronaut recently appeared onSlate.com and on io9.

The Slate article by Corey S. Powell and Laurie Gwen Shapiro called: “The Sculpture on the Moon: Scandals and conflicts obscured one of the most extraordinary achievements of the Space Age.” goes into much detail about the background, the realization and the ensuing controversy surrounding this historic event.  Astronaut Scott regarded the moment and the Fallen Astronaut memorial as quiet tribute to the heroic astronauts and cosmonauts who had given their lives in the space race. Van Hoeydonck was thrilled that his art was pointing the way to a human destiny beyond Earth and was disappointed that his work was not acknowledged.[13]

The article at io9: “This is the only piece of art we've left on the Moon”  is basically a reference to the Slate article, however from the discussion section we learn about Forest Meyers’ Moon Museum which may have preceded Van Hoeydonck’s work two years earlier. [14]

Back on Earth, contemporary artists are setting their artistic sights on the Moon, at least metaphorically. Organized and sponsored by the London art agency The Arts Catalyst is presenting its latest manifestation of the “Republic of the Moon”. Including artists Liliane Lijn, Leonid Tishkov, Katie Paterson, Agnes Meyer Brandis, and WE COLONISED THE MOON (Sue Corke and Hagen Betzwieser), Moon Vehicle (Joanna Griffin and ISRO scientist P Shreekumar)  the exhibition will combine personal encounters, DIY space plans, imaginary expeditions and new myths for the next space age. The exhibition is animated with performances, workshops, music, talks, a pop-up moon shop by super/collider and playful protests against lunar exploitation. Talks by invited artists, a symposium with space professionals plus various family events and parties are on the month-long agenda.[15, 16]

What is important in all of the above developments is that there is an underlying cultural dimension to humanity’s space endeavors which is important to its success. Since the beginning of our civilization, the artist and the scientist have been interconnected partners in the task of communicating our understandings about the nature of the universe. The idea of space exploration began in the mind of the artist and artists have been intimately involved in space exploration from the very beginning. Long before the first rocket penetrated the atmosphere, artists were making the concept of humanity traveling beyond Earth’s atmosphere a reality. Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon“ (1865) is an early example that instantly comes to mind, yet there were many others. As humanity’s breakout into space is surely one of its most significant achievements and, more importantly,  one that is essential to its future well-being, it is no surprise that that space exploration should become firmly integrated into contemporary culture. [17, 18]

The Space Option is a multi-dimensional concept. Its core message is meeting the needs of humanity on Earth with the resources and opportunities that lie beyond our atmosphere by harnessing our technological and scientific capabilities. However our needs are not only physical but cultural and spiritual as well. The Space Option has a philosophical and ethical dimension that implores us to re-think and re-design the way our societies function in order to provide hope and meaning to the future generations of humans. The role of the arts related to space is to expand the Cultural Dimension of humanity’s space activities by merging our technical visions with our spiritual visions into communication vehicles that will help us embrace The Space Option as a viable reality for our species.

Roger Malina, an astrophysicist and editor of Leonardo – the journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, states (1991)  [19, 20] :

"The creation of contemporary art is inextricably tied to the process of creating human civilization.  Within this perspective, art making will occur as a part of space exploration, and in fact art making must be encouraged in space as one of the ways without which, in the long run, human use of space will be incomplete and unsuccessful."

 

References:

  1. BBC News: China's Jade Rabbit rover rolls on to Moon's surface
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25384057
  2. Wikipedia: Chang'e 3
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e-3
  3. Wikipedia: Moon Rabbit
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_rabbit 
  4. Google Lunar XPRIZE
    http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/
  5. MoonArts
    http://moonarts.org/index.html
  6. Wikipedia : Apollo 11
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
  7. Wikipedia: The Blue Marble
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble 
  8. Wikipedia: Moon Museum
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Museum     
  9. U(in)habital - The Art of Extreme Environments (F/E)
    http://www.annickbureaud.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/CAT-OKFestival-@rt-Outsiders-2009.pdf
  10. UCR Free Enterprise: Forest Meyers
    http://sites.artsblock.ucr.edu/free-enterprise/forrest-myers/
  11. Wikipedia: Fallen Astronaut
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_Astronaut
  12. Paul Van Hoeydonck
    http://paulvanhoeydonck.com/
  13. Collect Space: Articles Carried on Manned Space Flights
    http://www.collectspace.com/resources/flown_a15_articlescarried.html
  14. The Sculpture on the Moon: Scandals and conflicts obscured one of the most extraordinary achievements of the Space Age.
    http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/12/sculpture_on_the_moon_paul_van_hoeydonck_s_fallen_astronaut.html
  15. This is the only piece of art we've left on the Moon
    http://io9.com/this-is-the-only-piece-of-art-weve-left-on-the-moon-1485630117
  16. Wired: Design Fiction: WE COLONISED THE MOON in London
    http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2013/12/design-fiction-we-colonised-the-moon-in-london/
  17. Republic of the Moon – London
    http://artscatalyst.org/projects/detail/republic_of_the_moon_london
  18. The Role of Art in the Space Environment
    http://www.thespaceoption.com/culture_spaceart_article.php?news_id=33
  19. Art to the Stars: an Historical Perspective on Space Art
    http://www.thespaceoption.com/culture_spaceart_article.php?news_id=26 
  20. Roger Malina, 1991, In Defense of Space Art: The Role of the Artist in Space Exploration
    http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=7vijkbQAAAAJ&cstart=300&sortby=pubdate&citation_for_view=7vijkbQAAAAJ:rHJHxKgnXwkC
  21. Leonardo – the journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology
    http://www.leonardo.info/
  22. Space Arts Headlines
    http://www.thespaceoption.com/space_arts_headlines.php


 

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