OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, TECH BROS have been counting on artists to generate hype—and ROI. It can be hard to get people to understand, or care about, something as impenetrably technical as the blockchain. But once Beeple’s $70 million NFT made headlines two years ago, the blockchain was all anyone could talk about. Now, the same thing is happening with private space exploration. This new sector is creating cheaper rockets and building a whole new economy far, far away, using satellites to monitor everything from nuclear facilities to deforestation and to bring the internet to remote locales. They’re enlisting artists to draw attention to their innovations, and to make all that’s happening up there more relatable here on Earth.
The more gimmicky the space art, the more headlines it generates. Jeff Koons and Elon Musk—a match made in neoliberal hell—have teamed up for a new project launching (literally) this summer that allows collectors, perhaps bored of buying on Earth, to own art on the moon. Koons is sending 125 sculptures depicting different lunar phases to the moon on a SpaceX rocket, then pairing them with Earth-bound editions, each featuring a gem that plots the precise location of their lunar counterparts. Naturally, the editions all have corresponding NFTs.
