A dream that Mikael Genberg has fed for over a quarter of a century could come true today (June 5).
The Swedish artist “Moon house“A project he designed in 1999 should tackle the moon This afternoon on board ResilienceA Lander operated by the Japanese company Ispace.
The work – a tiny replica of red and white houses which dot the Swedish countryside – is mounted on the bumper before TenaciousA microver built by the European Ispace subsidiary. If the resilience addresses safely today and everything is also going on, Tenace will unfold from the landing and deposit the moon house on lunar dirt, giving the gray landscape a lonely spark of vibrant color.
Space.com met Genberg by e-mail recently to discuss the moon house, how he feels with the touchdown just at the corner of the street and what a successful landing would mean for him. The questions and answers are presented below in their entirety.
Space.com: How and when did you have the idea of putting a small Swedish house on the moon?
Mikael Genberg: Working as an artist consists, in many ways, in trying to describe the world, life and human beings from different angles. Any culture is essentially that: to describe and to red Write what it means to be here. The house, as a symbol, manages in my mind a unique combination of survival and beauty.
When I imagined for the first time a typical Swedish house standing on the moon, I instantly felt the power of the image, but also its impossibility. I had no skills, no funding, no connection. However, thought did not leave me. I started talking about it, first with close friends, then with others. Little by little, a feeling of shared goal, or something like that, began to train around the idea.
In one way or another, the concept managed to survive, and even to grow, for 26 years, prosecuted by his own poetry, his madness and his difficulties and by the incredible support of the people who believed there. This persistence of the idea itself is a kind of art.
Space.com: What does this part mean for you? What do you hope that it realizes or how do you hope that it affects people?
Genberg: For me, the moon house is both a shared realization, something made possible by the efforts of many people, but also a deeply personal thing. Being able to touch the moon with a small house that I painted in the kitchen of our red house from 1758 creates deeper emotions than what I expected. It’s like putting my finger on this distant white disc in the sky. An impossibility that comes to life.
It is a small house in a large and empty place, a symbol of belonging, curiosity and vulnerability. I hope it invites people to think about our relationship with space and recognize the fragility and uniqueness of our own world, this Pale blue pointfilled with life, all linked to each other. The moon house does not claim anything, except perhaps to be art, but even it has no real interest. It is a small red house standing on the moon. That’s it.
Space.com: How do you feel now, be so close to lunar landing? What emotions are going through you?
Genberg: It is a strange mixture of fear, anxiety, disbelief and childish happiness. So many things had to go right just to reach this point. There is excitement, of course, but also a deep feeling of humility in understanding the challenges that are still to come.
I try not to be completely swept away by emotions, but rather to remain present at the moment. Everything that comes next.
Space.com: What would be the success of the mission – the tenacious deployment of the Moon House on gray dirt – means for you? What would that mean for humanity?
Genberg: If it works, if the moon house is really on the lunar surface, I think it would be a moment of extraordinary. Perhaps more poetry than art. For me personally, it would be the culmination of imagination, perseverance and collaboration with so many wonderful people.
As for what it could mean for humanity, it is really to each person. I love people have already responded in their own way: we send songs, children’s drawings, poems. For me, it is success, when an idea triggers new ideas in others.
I hope that the Moon House can become a small cultural marker. Something that says: we were here, and we brought not only our technology, but our dreams, our symbols of the house. We come in peace.
Space.com: What if resilience fails during its attempt to land on June 5? Do you still consider the Moonhouse project as a success?
Genberg: It’s hard to say. In the moment, I’m sure I would feel deeply disappointed. But with a certain distance, I think I will be able to see how the Moon House has already succeeded in many ways. It exists. It was built. It sparked thoughts, conversations and creativity around the world.
Of course, I hope he lands safely. But I also accept that spatial missions are, by nature, great risks. No matter what’s going on, the house will reach the moon. The only question is what form.
