The Arch Lunar Art Archive and Arch Mission Foundation Install the Works of 135 Contemporary Artists on the Surface of the Moon
The Arch Mission Foundation is proud to announce that the Arch Lunar Art Archive (ALAA) — an interstellar exhibition of 135 contemporary artists from around the world — successfully landed on the moon on February 22, 2024, aboard a payload on the Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander (via Lunaprise).
Joining Arch Mission’s Lunar Library, the ALAA extends the Foundation’s commitment to documenting and preserving human culture around the solar system. In 2019, Arch Mission deployed cutting-edge nanotechnology to send the largest library of human civilization into space via lunar lander. The 30-million-page Lunar Library consists of tens of thousands of books on all subjects, as well as all recorded history, a key to all known languages, and the entire English Wikipedia, making it one of the most durable archives of human history ever built.
In an effort that began during the height of Covid-19 in 2021, Arch Mission, under a curatorial partnership with ALAA, has now turned its attention to presentism, creating a survey of contemporary art over the course of the past 3 years with the Arch Lunar Art Archive. The ALAA features artists selected based on diversity of materials, age, gender, nationality, and ability, who all speak to today’s exceptional cultural moment. This unprecedented context allows for new meanings and perspectives to emerge when artists from around the world are placed within a shared curatorial framework with one another for the first time. Artists in the Arch Lunar Art Archive have exhibited in museums, are featured in major public collections, and have shown in galleries worldwide. The diverse global archive contains unique examples of art in all media.
This is what it means to be contemporary: to index a multifaceted present, to reevaluate the conventions of the past, and to turn our attention outward towards a boundless, promising future.
Each artwork is etched as a series of four monochrome analog bitmaps at microscopic scale into sheets of nickel using NanoFiche, using a patented nanotechnology process. These bitmaps, written at 300,000 DPI and representing each of the CMYK colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), can be fully reconstructed to their original color. The images can be retrieved with only a microscope, and they do not require a computer to read them. Since these are analog images directly etched onto the medium, they are genuine artworks rather than mere digital representations, placed on the Moon.
Each artwork showcased in the Arch Lunar Art Archive will be minted as a non-fungible token, or NFT, with Blocktag™ authentication tags used for select artworks with a corresponding print edition. Blocktag™ uses a microscopic authentication feature that matches the NFT artwork with its physical counterpart, certifying each editioned print of art in the archive as unique. Deploying these emergent technologies means that each artwork will be registered with a serial ID to a blockchain, making all transactions verifiable and cryptographically secure. In support of ALAA artists’ continued creative practices, each work in the archive will be available for sale as a 1/1 NFT, with much of the proceeds benefiting the Arch Mission Foundation. Proceeds will help to support the Arch Mission’s non-profit archival and curation work on Earth and around the solar system.
Subscribe to ALAA’s newsletter for details on the inaugural NFT release for a number of the participating artists, allowing collectors an unprecedented opportunity to support their practices in a new medium for the first time.
Participating Artists
Aaron Naves
Adrian Pijoan
Alex Anderson
Alex Mackin Dolan
Alex Seton
Alice Wang
Allen Hung-Lun Chen
Allie Zhang
Amalia Ulman
Anarchy Dance Theatre
Andreas Rønholt Schmidt
Andrew Hahn
Andrew Norman Wilson
AP Nguyen
Asha Schecter
Asya Nur
Aura Rosenberg
Aushin Chang
Barak Zemer
Bart Seng
Bjarne Bare
Brigid Mason
Candice Jee with Yaya Huwat
Carol Strober
Casey Kauffmann
Chen Chien Jung
Chen Zi Yin
Chia Lee
Chris Hanke
Cindy Conrad
Dakota Blue
Danielle Dean
Donel Williams
Edgar Fabián Frías
Elliot Kaufman
Emily Yang 艾蜜莉
Emma Hazen
Erik Frydenborg
Erin Calla Watson
Ewa Wojciak
Filip Gilissen
Fiona Connor
Fung Yee Lick
Gabby Davis
Gauntlett Cheng
Giacomo Giannantonio
Gianna Surangkanjanajai
Gina Mei
Graham Epstein
Hanna Rose Stewart
Henri McMaster
Hooz
Horacio Alcolea Crespo
Ian Stanton
Idolate
Ilja Karilampi
Jacob Cruzen
Jared Madere
Jared Richardson (JVY)
Jasia Rabiej
Jason Meadows
Jasper Spicero
Jaybe Lee
Jeff Beall
Jeffrey Scudder
Jennifer Zhang
Jessica Hang
Johnny Forever Nawracaj (with sound by Gambletron)
Jon Pylypchuk
Jonathan Moore
JPW3
Julia Yerger
Juliana Halpert
Julie Lai
Kaiyen Tu
Kate Sansom
Kathy Haddad
Kent Twitchell
Lane Stewart
Lin Pei-Yao
Lindsay Lawson
Liya Yu
Liz Magic Lazer
Louie Shirase
Luis Serrano
Maria Petschnig
Martin Lammert
Mathias Toubro
Matt Siegle
Matthew Cherrie
Michael Pollard
Ming Yao Chang
Mitchell Syrop
MM33
Mooncat
Nao Bustamante
Natalie Astraea
Negashi Armada + Mickey Goodman
Ni Hao
Nick Hamburger
OUCHHH
Olammy
Paige K.B.
Paulson Lee
Peggy Peiting Huang
Peter Schulman
Rachel Zaretsky Radimir Koch
Ralph Kuo Chiang Wu
Rasmus Røhling
RESEARCH Publications
Retro1999
Robin Sparkes
Sam Anderson
Sam Mason
Sarah Rara
Scott Benzel
Scroll
Seyoung Yoon
Shana Moulton
Shang-Ru Lin
Shang-Yang Wu
So Youn Lee
Sylvia Hardy
Anna Lind-Guzik (The Conversationalist)
Tobias Sprichtig
Tore Wallert
Travis Diehl
Viola Morini
Wednesday Kim
Will Wharton
Wyatt Naoki Conlon
X-TRA and Project X Foundation For Art And Criticism
Zhuxue Deren
Zuzanna Bartoszek
Website: https://lun.art
Community Discord: https://discord.gg/uvFsFtqgBG
Medium: https://medium.com/@arch-lunar-art-archive
Instagram: https://instagram.com/arch_lunar_art_archive
X: https://x.com/arch_lunar
Farcaster: https://warpcast.com/art-archive
CONTACT INFORMATION:
press@lun.art
