A tiny artifact developed by Carnegie Mellon University in the US will be attached to a small lander, scheduled to be sent to the Moon next month, to function as a sort of mini-lunar museum.
Called MoonArk (Ark of the Moon), the initiative is part of the project Lunar arts directed by a team of professors from the North American institute, and which will reach the Moon via a landing module developed by the private company astrobotic.
The works of the Brazilian plastic artist Enio Longo, member of the creative core of the Nanoart Project at the Center for the Development of Functional Materials (CDMF), will compose the MoonArk “collection”, which aims to awaken the admiration of humans of the future through visual narratives.
The MoonArk is a sculpture formed by four independent chambers housing hundreds of images, poems, music, nano-objects, mechanisms and terrestrial samples intertwined through complex narratives.
According to the CDMF, there are two identical MoonArks, one that goes to the Moon and the other that stays on Earth.
“Since 2008, MoonArk has been touring and awaiting launch, having successfully passed thermal and vacuum tests for space readiness,” the project website states. “The production of MoonArk has spurred original innovation and invention in digital fabrication techniques, ultra-high resolution imaging, and many breakthroughs in materials science, technology and the arts, engaging people around the world in inspiring ways “.
Collaborative in nature, the project involves 18 universities and organizations, 60 staff members and more than 250 contributing artists, designers, educators, scientists, engineers, choreographers, poets, writers and musicians.
This month, following an international tour of exhibits, festivals and special presentations designed to spark dialogue and conversation, the MoonArk that will remain on Earth will be added to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in the United States.
According to the UOL portal, until the 20th some works by Longo related to the theme of “love” will be exhibited in the virtual exhibition “Art, infinite art”, organized by the Raphael Art Gallery-Edmundo Cavalcanti.
Cavalcanti is the artist responsible for organizing and curating the exhibition. OR CDMF extension is one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (Cepids) supported by the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), and also receives investments from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the National Institute of Materials Science and Technology in Nanotechnology (INCTMN).