Digital Editions
Newsletters
Subscribe
Digital Editions
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
In the frame
blog

Fly me to the moon? Elon Musk plans to launch Japanese billionaire collector Yusaku Maezawa and eight artists into space

The Art Newspaper
18 September 2018
Share
Tweets by elonmusk

SpaceX, the space travel company led by the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has announced plans to launch the Japanese billionaire art collector and fashion magnate Yusaku Maezawa and a team of artists into space for a project called #dearMoon. The enterprise would be the first time humans travelled around the moon since the final Apollo mission in 1972. Maezawa, who has been named the "host curator" of the project, put down “a lot of money” according to Musk to secure all ten seats on the Big Falcon Rocket, a spaceship that SpaceX has been developing since 2012 to explore and colonise other planets. In a livestreamed conference held last night (17 September) in the SpaceX factory in California, Maezawa, who made headlines last year for acquiring Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (1983) for $110.5m at Sotheby’s and was wearing a Comme des Garçons t-shirt with a portrait of the artist, mused: “What if Basquiat had gone to space and seen the moon up close? What wonderful masterpieces would he have created? Just thinking about it now gets my heart racing”. The collector plans to bring six to eight artists—which could include painters, sculptors, film directors, architects and fashion designers—along on the ride and they will be asked to make a new work based on the experience when they return to Earth. “Those masterpieces will inspire the dreamer in all of us,” Maezawa adds.

In the frameJean-Michel BasquiatYusaku MaezawaCaliforniaOuter SpaceElon Musk
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Instagram
Bluesky
LinkedIn
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
© The Art Newspaper

Related content

In the frameblog
23 May 2018

Hirst shark—and Venice shipwreck piece—installed in Las Vegas casino

The Art Newspaper
Contemporary artnews
12 December 2022

'The ultimate artist residency': team chosen for space voyage includes photographers and performers

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa's dearMoon trip is being developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company

Gareth Harris
Outer Spacenews
1 April 2022

Elon Musk to fly high-profile Swiss curator to Mars for ‘first exhibition in space’

The show is planned for 2035 and is part of a SpaceX project to colonise the red planet

The Art Newspaper