05.04.
2019
KUNSTHAUS ZÜRICH, ZÜRICH (CH)'
FLY ME TO THE MOON
The Moon landing: 50 years on
5 April – 30 June 2019
With around 200 works by
Darren Almond, Pawel Althamer, Rene Burri, Johan Christian Dahl, Dubossarsky & Vinogradov, Sylvie Fleury, Liam Gillick, Hannah Höch, Kiki Kogelnik, David Lamelas, Zilla Leutenegger, René Magritte, Jyoti Mistry, Thomas Riess, John Russell, Andrei Sokolov, Andy Warhol, Nives Widauer and others.
In association with the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing – an event that, like no other, transformed our relationship with the world and our environment. The view of Earth from space gave rise to a new awareness of the fragility of our existence, and the Blue Planet as ‘Spaceship Earth’ has come to symbolize life itself. The space race began in 1957 when the Russians launched their Sputnik satellite into orbit, sparking fear and anxiety in Western nations that led to the establishment of NASA in 1958. The USSR upped the ante in 1961, sending Yuri Gagarin, the first astronaut, into space and returning him safely to Earth. This prompted J. F. Kennedy’s ambitious announcement of a project to land a man on the Moon before the decade was out.
Our exhibition is a journey through the history of artists’ engagement with the Moon, from the Romantic era to the present day. Divided into thematic sections, it focuses on topics such as lunar topography, moonlit night and the Moon’s shadow, ailments associated with the Moon, zero gravity and the Moon as mass media phenomenon.