Lunar Codex: Contemporary Indigenous, A Manifest for the Moon
The Lunar Codex uses digital and analog technology to preserve art, books, music, and more, enclosed in time capsules and launched to the Moon. It is a message-in-a-bottle to the future.
"A time capsule of human creativity, stored in the sky" - The New York Times
Founded by physicist and author Samuel Peralta, the Lunar Codex is a curated archive of artworks from across the globe, launched from Earth via NASA Artemis / CLPS program partners. The project is using a technology called NanoFiche to archive over 250,000 works of art from 259 countries to send to the moon .
The Lunar Codex, is the first significant placement of contemporary arts on the Moon in over fifty years. (The first work of art to travel to the moon was The Moon Museum, a ceramic tile created by Forrest Myers, in 1969. It featured drawings by artists including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, John Chamberlain and Claes Oldenburg).
The Lunar Codex is one of several trying to send permanent archives of human expression into space, however, the Lunar Codex is different from other archival projects in several ways. It focuses on contemporary arts — not Shakespeare, or Mozart, or Rembrandt. Others are working to preserve that,” Peralta said. All in all, the Lunar Codex comprises of seven time capsules, each launched by a different mission.
"Our hope is that future travelers who find these time capsules will discover some of the richness of our world today... It speaks to the idea that, despite wars and pandemics and climate upheaval, humankind found time to dream, time to create art.”
- Samuel Peralta
And I am OVER THE MOON to share with everyone that, “The Sacred Eye: The Katherine Takpannie Collection” has been added to the Serenity C mission! Serenity is onboard NASA CLPS-TO-19D, on Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander, launching via SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Jan 15, 2025 at 1:11am.... Landing ETA March 1, 2025.
Words cannot describe how incredibly thankful, and humbled to be a part of history! “The Lunar Codex time capsule is a message-in-a-bottle to the future, so that travelers who find these time capsules might discover some of the richness of our world today.”
SACRED EYE: THE KATHERINE TAKPANNIE COLLECTION
Takpannie Photography (2023) - GM1
- A collection of works by the National Gallery of Canada award winning Inuk photographer Katherine Takpannie, curated specially for the Lunar Codex
- Special thanks to Katrina Petryk of the Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC); and thanks to Olga Korper Gallery, the representatives for Takpannie Photography
- Original works archived the portfolio include Iqaluit | ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ #1 (2021), Amarok #5 (2023), Potential to Rise #10 (2023), Sedna | ᓴᓐᓇ #23 (2023), Raven | ᑐᓗᒐᖅ #10 (2023), Shamanism II #15 (2022).
