The New Pre-Raphaelites are going to the moon!

Soul Awakening by Aleksandra Katargina

Yes, it’s true!
All of the artworks in The New Pre-Raphaelites 2020 exhibition and The New Pre-Raphaelites: Illumination 2021–2022 exhibition will be catalogued digitally and sent to the moon in a time capsule!

The works have been selected for inclusion by the Lunar Codex, an incredible project that will put women artists on the moon for the first time.

The New Pre-Raphaelites works will be launched in the Polaris mission in the fall of 2023.
Below is a map of the moon and where the landing will take place!

The U.S.’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has a plan, the Artemis Program, to land humans back on the Moon in 2025, for the first time in over 50 years.​

In preparation, NASA will send scientific instruments to the Moon, over 2022 to 2024, via Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) partners, such as Astrobotic Technologies and Intuitive Machines. Their lunar landers will launch as payloads of commercial rocket platforms by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) or SpaceX.

Along with NASA instruments, these missions will carry commercial payloads, including the three time capsules that make up The Lunar Codex. ​

This will be the first significant placement of contemporary arts on the Moon in 50 years. While focused on visual art, the Lunar Codex also includes a substantial collection of contemporary books, stories, poetry, films, music, essays, and more. ​

“The Polaris Collection” is our payload associated with an Astrobotic Griffin/NASA VIPER mission, landing in the vicinity of the Lunar South Pole. The New Pre-Raphaelites will be on this mission.​

As an arts and culture project, The Lunar Codex has been called the most expansive, international, and diverse collection of contemporary culture launched to the Moon. Significantly, it is the first project to launch the works of women artists to the lunar surface. It is also the first project, to our knowledge, to place film and music on the Moon.

The Lunar Codex represents creative work from Canada, the U.S., China, India, the E.U., Australia, the U.K., and indeed from 89 countries and territories from Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Oceania and Asia — firsts on the Moon for many of these countries.

“Our hope is that future travelers who find these time capsules will discover some of the richness of our world today… It speaks to the idea that, despite wars and pandemics and climate upheaval, humankind found time to dream, time to create art.”

- Samuel Peralta, director of the Lunar Codex

Find out more about the Lunar Codex by clicking here.

Many works in The New Pre-Raphaelites: Illumination are available for you to collect in their original physical form. Take a moment today to collect an artwork in this historic collection! Imagine telling your friends and colleagues that you own a piece of art that is part of a collection…on the moon!​

Take a look at the available works in the show here!

Thank you for your interest in contemporary realist artists and we appreciate your passion for the Pre-Raphaelites!

Jessica Libor, Director

Era Contemporary
Evocative, Remarkable, Authentic Art
www.eracontemporary.com