Jeff Koons sculptures flew to the moon

Russian art object will go into space in May

125 sculptures by Jeff Koons — in the form of stainless steel spheres depicting different phases of the Moon — were sent to the Earth's satellite on a SpaceX Starship rocket. And in May, Russian artist Nastya Miro will send her sculpture into Earth orbit on a new generation domestic satellite. «MK» remembered how art conquered space and what has changed since then.

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One of the most famous and expensive artists in the world, Jeff Koons, came up with his project “Phases of the Moon” a few years ago back. And at the same time, I figured out how to monetize my art. In a week, a capsule with 125 “moon phases” will reach the Earth’s satellite and he will put up for sale NFT versions of each of the spheres, which he named after great masters like Leonardo da Vinci. So the artist is not only driven by cosmic ideas.

And in May, artist Nastya Miro will send her sculpture of an octopus named Octo-Pax into orbit on a new generation domestic satellite. Russia wanted to overtake Elon Musk, but it didn’t work out. And yet, domestic sculpture will soon also take flight.

However, the idea of ​​launching art into space is by no means new. Back in 1971, Apollo 15 carried a small aluminum sculpture by Belgian Paul van Hoeydonk to the Moon and left it there. Already in the 21st century, artist Azum Makoto launched his floral composition into the stratosphere. The work of Damien Hirst was on board the Beagle 2 lander.

The first three-dimensional work to enter low-Earth orbit was the abstract sculpture “Cosmic Dancer” by Swiss-American artist Arthur Woods. Various works of art were sent to the ISS, for example, a high-quality copy of the Mona Lisa. There is even a painting by Nikas Safronov — “Winter Moscow in the Year of the Tiger.” By the way, he sold its NFT version in 2022 for 5 million rubles.