Perpetuating Human Creativity in Space: The Lunar Codex Project Sends Works of Art to the Moon

Samuel Peralta has an ambitious project on his hands. This same year, the company he runs, Incandence, will send a capsule with works of art to the Moon to perpetuate human creativity in space. According to the physicist, author and collector in dialogue with TN Tecno, this kind of “message in a bottle” includes works by Argentine artists. They are now part of what he calls the “Lunar Codex Project.”

Also read: We spoke with the Mexican physicist who studies the “little piece of the Moon” that wanders through space

“The act of selecting art for a moon launch can be considered a kind of performance art, per se. But above all I see it as an archive”, says Peralta. The case will contain an advanced storage medium with contemporary art, poetry, replica magazines, music, film, podcasts and books by more than 30,000 creators, from 157 countries.

– How did the idea of ​​Lunar Codex come about? Sending objects to the Moon is not something every day…

– Most people know that SpaceX, and other companies, have taken over building rockets. And because they are private companies, their customers may be others besides NASA. What most don’t know is that that agency also decided that it would not build any more lunar landers, unlike the Apollo program.

Samuel Peralta was born in the Philippines and is now a Canadian citizen. (Photo: Courtesy/Samuel Peralta/Lunar Codex)

Through the Commercial Lunar Service Program (CLPS) firms such as Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and Firefly, among others, were created that would build the lunar landers and make NASA pay for their own instruments to take them to the Moon. My “eureka moment” came when I realized that some of these companies, like SpaceX, were opening up payload space on their lunar landers. That is, not only to NASA or the United States Department of Defense, but also to individuals.

– After the idea, how were the works of art that will travel to space in the capsule selected?

– Because I am actively involved in the publishing, art, and film industries, I have a network of gallery owners, art curators, and publishers who helped curate much of the material for Lunar Codex. There was never an open call, except in a handful of instances, where we collaborated with the Art Renewal Center, Era Contemporary Gallery, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Brick Street Poetry Publishers, to find potential artists and writers. We currently have a collaboration with the Science Festival of India on their short story competition, but the deadlines for my final payload are near.

– Do you remember how works by Argentine artists came to be incorporated?

– Clear. Both Diego Fernández and Peca were featured artists on Beautiful Bizarre. We have around 35 issues of that magazine on board the Codex. Gustavo Bondoni was widely referred to through various anthologies in which he has been involved. There is also Luis Alberto Ambroggio. For her part, María Alejandra Fumaroni was approved by the editors of our commissioned poetry anthology The Polaris Trilogy. In addition, there are works by the Venezuelan Sthef Millan, with whom she already interacted through Facebook.

“Reflections of Quiescence”, by Rosario Bitanga, one of the works that will travel in the capsule to the Moon. (Photo: Rosario Bitanga/Courtesy Peralta/Lunar Codex)

– If you had to choose some of your favorite works included in the capsules, what would they be?

They come to mind. Moon leaves, from my mother, Rosario Bitanga. I had an art show with my poetry captioning each piece of art. Another is Coming Storm by Mauro “Malang” Santos. This was the first piece of fine art I ever collected, when I was still a student at university, the start, if you will, of something bigger.

– What audience are they targeting? That is to say, who do they intend to be the readers, listeners, spectators of the works that they will send to the Moon?

– First, the creative artists involved in the project. The act of sending their works to the Moon is intended to motivate them to continue their work. Second, other people on Earth finding out about the project and realizing that a kind of artistic immortality may be within reach. And a final, and more speculative, audience of those who will travel to the Moon in the future, whether they are our own species or visitors from other worlds.

– Would you tell us about the storage unit you use? What advantages does it offer?

– For the project we used both digital and analog storage. Digital storage is through shielded memory cards, and we will have 2-3TB of data in total. Analog storage is done via NanoFiche, which is an updated form of microfiche. Some advantages are its high resilience to extreme temperatures, humidity and radiation, due to the metal construction. It also does not require power and can be easily read at 1000x magnification.

NanoFiche, the storage technology used by the Peralta project. (Photo: Courtesy/Samuel Peralta/Lunar Codex)

Also read: The scientist who wants to use potatoes to build houses on the Moon and Mars

Peralta tells us that the time capsules will have a “readme” type document that provides a general description of what they contain, as well as a general context of our contemporary time on Earth. It is not something that an astronaut from the future, perhaps non-human, comes across this message in a bottle and does not know how to decipher it.

Pending the launch, which will take place at the end of this year, the man behind the Codex Project is in talks with heads of space programs in Europe, Canada and Asia, to get more payload space. “If I’m successful, there may be more launches than are already scheduled,” he says, upping the ante. “I am also in conversations with people to expand the project to other objectives, such as Mars or interplanetary travel. These last conversations are still very early ”, he closes with his eyes set far beyond what other art lovers have imagined.

2023-08-12 22:19:20
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