Moon magic is on display until Sunday 3rd September in an astonishing exhibition at Newbury’s Corn Exchange, brought to Newbury in partnership with Visit Newbury. UK artist Luke Jerram’s six-metre, to-scale sculpture of the moon is suspended in Corn Exchange’s main auditorium.
Completely accurate, the sculpture has been made using NASA images of the lunar surface and features minute detail. Hanging as an eerie presence, achieved by internally lighting the sculpture, each single centimetre of the sculpture represents about 6 kilometres of the moon’s surface. Accompanied by a surround-sound composition (by composer Dan Jones), visitors can stroll casually to the dark side of the moon – properly, the far side of the Moon, the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth – so few have seen and wonder at its rugged terrain.
By way of accompaniment, Visit Newbury are presenting their Festival of the Moon, with more than a hundred moon-related activities and events staged in conjunction with local businesses, and Corn Exchange are staging lunar-themed activities, too. It’s a vast choice from moon-gazing to quizzes, wellbeing sessions to storytelling. Simply put by Warwick Heskins, Newbury BID Chairman, “there’s something for everyone”.
You need a ticket to visit but tickets are free and available through the Corn Exchange.
The Museum of the Moon is being shown in arts exhibitions and festivals in diverse locations, including in Canada and Slovenia. If you don’t catch it here, it’s also on display at Hexham Abbey and Derby Cathedral, with dates until early November.
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