Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram. Les Tombees de la nuit, Rennes, 2017
“We all shine on…like the moon and the stars and the sun…we all shine on…
come on and on and on…”
― John Lennon
As children, when we gazed at the moon, the possibilities seemed endless. Those are the feelings London-based artist Luke Jerram is looking to invoke in the hearts of visitors to Downtown Coral Gables this March with his traveling art installation, “Museum of The MOON.”
The internationally renowned MOON will hang over Ponce Circle Park starting March 9th, transforming Coral Gables into a cosmic art experience and bringing visitors an arm’s-length from Earth’s closest celestial neighbor.
Over its lifetime, the exhibit has traveled from the Bristol Cathedral in the United Kingdom to the Beijing Olympic Water Cube, the Filux Festival in Mexico, to Milan, Tokyo, and Iceland inspiring and entertaining more than 20 million people worldwide.
Jerram’s art is known to draw attention to planetary health, driving discussions about climate change and sustainable lifestyles. The MOON installation is a fusion of lunar imagery, moonlight, and surround sound composition. Measuring 23 feet in diameter, the MOON features 120 dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface, with each inch representing eight miles of the moon’s surface.
“We are so grateful to our donors and the city for their support in bringing this gift to the community,” shared Coral Gables Community Foundation President and CEO Mary Snow. The Foundation infuses world-class art installations into the community to continue bringing impactful global art to Coral Gables. The M Network is proud to partner with the Foundation on media relations and creating collateral materials to be distributed during the ‘MOON Over The Gables’ event.
The M Network sat down with artist Luke Jerram to better understand his inspiration behind the MOON.
Luke, can you share with us your MOON’s impact across the globe?
“The MOON is probably the most successful of the artworks I have made. We have had about 300 exhibitions now in about 30 countries around the world. It is because the moon has a sort of universal appeal.
So if I take the MOON to America, people think about the Apollo Moon Mission, landing on the moon, and all sorts of stuff. Whereas if I take the MOON to China, it is celebrated as art in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and mythologies and stories related to them in every culture around the world.”
What is the craziest thing that has happened under your MOON?
“The artwork is both a sculpture for people to come out and look at, but it is also a venue for people to think about what might happen underneath it. So we have had lectures on astronomy, we have had yoga lessons, we have had choirs performing…
With the Museum of the MOON, people have gotten proposed underneath it, and some people have gone on to study space science, and it sort of inspired their career. So it can have a huge impact on different people, which is extremely nice.”
What makes this art installation so unique?
“The moon that we see in the sky only faces one direction, so we only ever get to see the front side of it, so the public on earth, are never able to see the far side or the dark side of the moon.
This artwork allows the public to walk all the way around it and see every detail, and it is all made of 120 dpi, so it’s all high-rez NASA imagery. So it is quite an exciting opportunity for anyone who is interested in science and space and astronomy to come to have a look at it.”
The MOON will be over Coral Gables every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through March 25th; to learn more about the scheduled events, visit moonoverthegables.com.
