The Moon, the Earth and Us

The Moon, the Earth and Us

The High Line, New York

January 24 – February 14, 2019

The Moon, the Earth and Us is a poetic exploration of the Overview Effect

Located on New York City's High Line park, between 15th and 16th Streets, the installation features two large sculptures modelled after the Moon and the Earth, in a scale that accurately depicts their true size and distance from one another. The installation presents the public with an experience normally reserved for astronauts – in which our home planet can be considered from the distance of the Moon. It will attempt to underline the wholeness of our planet as a single organism and raises questions about the significance and impact of manmade borders that divide, rather than unite, humanity. Both hand-painted globes feature text elements. As the Moon is approached, visitors read across its surface, 'No One Lives Here', while within every man-made border on Earth's dry land, 'People Live Here' is affirmatively repeated. 

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Oliver Jeffers

“I hope this encourages people to consider how far we actually are from our only close neighbour in this solar system, and in doing so, become aware of how fragile our society, or life at all, really is. Every element was designed so that passersby can attempt to suspend disbelief and imagine themselves temporarily buoyant in the vacuum of outer space. From that vantage point, hopefully the obviousness will strike a chord that to all people, this planet alone is our home.”

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