This Tiny Swedish Cottage Is About to Become the Moon’s First Art Installation
22nd Jan 2025
A mini Swedish cottage is going to become the first building on the moon as part of a huge art project.
When SpaceX’s Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on 15th January, it would carry on board an unusual object that is part of an ambitious art project. The detailed red Swedish mini-cottage called “the Moonhouse” was carried alongside Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander and ispace’s Resilience lander.
The Artistic Legacy of Mikael Genberg and His Red Houses
Artist Mikael Genberg has long dreamt of sending his Moonhouse to its rightful destination, and this is becoming close to reality.
The project is explained on the Moonhouse website: “By placing something as simple and down-to-earth as a red house in a place as remote, inhospitable and colourless as the moon, Mikael Genberg questions our perception of what is possible and meaningful in the cosmos,
“Moreover, The Moonhouse carries a poetic undertone. It reminds us of our roots and our home on Earth while symbolizing our dreams and ambitions to explore and expand beyond our known boundaries.”
From the ISS to the Moon: Genberg’s Artistic Journey Beyond Earth
Genberg has become known for these little red houses that have made their way around the planet (and further afield). As well as being seen underwater and on the Great Wall of China, one has even been sent to the ISS. When the Resilience lander touches down, it will be deployed onto the lunar surface to find its new home on the moon.
After this, “it should release the house, take some pictures and leave it alone standing there for thousands and thousands, maybe millions of years,” Genberg explained.
The Moonhouse is set to become the first building on the moon and the first art project to make its way to the lunar surface, too.
Moonhouse is precious cargo, and sits alongside other items such as a food production experiment and a deep space radiation probe, as well as water electrolyser equipment and the Tenacious rover.
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