The Strange Story Of the Sculpture On the Moon

braindrainbahrain writes "Slate magazine has written a story about the only work of art placed on the Moon: the Fallen Astronaut sculpture. It was placed on the Moon during the Apollo 15 mission to commemorate both American and Soviet deceased astronauts. The little statue, rather than bringing fame and fortune, ended up being nearly forgotten, and got both Apollo astronaut David Scott and Belgian sculptor Van Hoeydonck in hot water with the U.S. government."

Apollo 12 Moon Museum might have been first ...

[danomatika]

Don't forget the allegedly smuggled "Moon Museum" etching on Apollo 12 [popsci.com]. Andy Warhol penis sketch FTW.

This somewhat bizarre story stems from research conducted by Colombia University historian Gwen Wright, whose PBS show History Detectives unearthed evidence that a tiny, penny-sized ceramic chip etched with six sketches – one each from Warhol, Oldenburg, Rauschenberg, David Novros, John Chamberlain and Forrest "Frosty" Myers – landed on the moon with the Apollo 12 mission and is still there today.

Re:It's a memorial, not an art exhibition.

[immaterial]

That's Scott's side of the story. Since we weren't there and they didn't put anything in writing, we can't know who is telling the truth. Most likely when they discussed the art and it's placement they both left unsaid the things they thought were obvious - and what is obvious to an artist (I get credit for my work) and obvious to an astronaut with a strong spiritual sensibility (this is going to be subtle and dignified) are two very different things.

Your claim of a "commissioned work of art" is wrong, because it was the artist that went to THEM to get them to put his work up there. Look at the artist's reaction to being called "the workman" - "then you might as well call Scott 'the postman.'" It was in reality a collaboration, but one where both sides unfortunately had different expectations.

Re:The story isn't over

[PPH]

do you really think the PRC is going to disrupt something like that?

Of course not. That would offend our Western sensitivity to foreign cultures. Just like the Elgin marbles and all the other SWAG our forefathers hauled back from journeys of exploration. Or carving the heads of four white guys on to the side of a sacred mountain (just so I'm not pointing the finger at one country).

Re:Art?

[fahrbot-bot]

|>E#

I just made that up and pronounce it to be art. You are allowed to either appreciate it's beauty or admit that you hate all art. Any -1 mods are merely people who don't understand art and whose opinion on art should therefore be ignored.

I'm reminded of the scene in L.A. Story [wikipedia.org] in which Harris (Steve Martin) is admiring and remarking on a painting hanging in the museum:

Harris: I like the relationships. I mean, each character has his own story. The puppy is a bit too much, but you have to over look things like that in these kinds of paintings. The way he's *holding* her... it's almost... filthy. I mean, he's about to kiss her and she's pulling away. The way the leg's sort of smashed up against her... Phew... Look how he's painted the blouse sort of translucent. You can just make out her breasts underneath and it's sort of touching him about here. It's really... pretty torrid, don't you think? Then of course you have the onlookers peeking at them from behind the doorway like they're all shocked. They wish. Yeah, I must admit, when I see a painting like this, I get emotionally... erect.

[The camera pulls back and the painting is revealed to be of a large red rectangle.]