MOON, FLATTENED 1968

Apollo 8 was a NASA space mission that took three astronauts around the Moon in 1968. This occurred a year before NASA landed on the surface of the Moon with Apollo 11, taking humans for the first time in our history beyond our ancestral (and celestial) home.

During the Apollo missions throughout the 60s and 70s, astronauts photographed their experiences. Apollo 8, in particular, produced one of the most iconic photographs of all time –– Earthrise by William Anders. This photograph captures the perspective of Earth rising behind the Moon’s horizon, just like the Sun does on Earth every day. This subtle shift in perspective solidified for many that the Earth is just a small sphere floating in seemingly empty space.

Moon, flattened 1968 takes Apollo 8’s photographs of the Moon’s surface and reproduces them three-dimensionally. As viewers stand in front of these sculptures, they experience to scale what Anders would have seen through his tiny window.