Museum of the Moon.
Camera IconMuseum of the Moon. Credit: Supplied/Carl Milner

Exploring the Galaxy: see the moon up close at Joondalup Festival

Tyler BrownJoondalup Times

TWO installations that have travelled the world will take visitors to the 2019 Joondalup Festival on a journey to the moon and back.

Museum of the Moon and Gaia, from UK artist Luke Jerram, will be two of the main attractions at this year’s festival, themed Exploring the Galaxy.

Both 7m in diameter, the artworks hope to capture the imagination of festival-goers when the free event returns to the Joondalup city centre from April 5 to 7.

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Museum of the Moon features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface, with each centimetre of the internally-lit spherical sculpture representing 5km of the moon’s surface.

Gaia, which in Greek mythology is the personification of the Earth, features the same NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface.

The artwork is 1.8 million times smaller than Earth, with each centimetre describing 18km of the Earth’s surface.

When standing 211m away from Gaia, visitors will be able to see the Earth as it appears from the moon.

Museum of the Moon. Ed Simmons
Camera IconMuseum of the Moon. Ed Simmons Credit: Supplied/Supplied

“Unlike the moon, which we have been gazing at for millennia, the first time humankind got to see the Earth in its entirety as a blue marble floating in space was in 1972 with NASA’s Apollo 17 mission,” Jerram said.

“At this moment, our perception and understanding of our planet changed forever.”

Joondalup Mayor Albert Jacob said the artworks, which also feature musical compositions by BAFTA award-winning composer Dan Jones, would be unlike anything festival-goers had seen or experienced before.

“This year’s interactive artworks are larger than life and will transport the imaginations of festival-goers to far away worlds,” he said

“Luke Jerram’s installations are out of this world and promise to take the Joondalup Festival to even greater heights in 2019.”

Other attractions will have visitors meeting a real space man, joining a dance party and seeing various live entertainment acts including interactive art installations, circus, music, comedy and children’s shows.

JOONDALUP FESTIVAL 2019 Theme: Exploring the Galaxy Where: Joondalup city centre Friday, April 5, 5.30pm-11pm Saturday, April 6, 2pm-11pm Sunday, April 7: 2pm to 8pm