Museum of the Moon

September 10 @ 6:00 pm - September 15 @ 11:00 pm Free

On view from dusk to 11pm

From September 10-15, The Bentway brings the Moon under the Gardiner with a presentation of Museum of the Moon – a seven-metre wide touring sculptural work by UK artist Luke Jerram, which fuses lunar imagery to bring the moon’s surface to life on earth. The installation allows visitors to experience the moon up-close and personal, reminding us of the moon’s influence on our daily lives despite urban barriers like light pollution and high-rise density. Visitors will be able to further reflect on the moon through moon gazing and moonlight meditation, turning The Bentway into an open air planetarium.

Other activities taking place throughout the moon-filled week include nightly moonlight meditation sessions with the Consciousness Explorers Club (September 10 - 13 + 15), an immersive multi-channel soundtrack - including children’s stories, self-guided meditation and an astronaut playlist - and free astronomy talks with various speakers presented in partner-ship with Fort York National Historic Site and Friends of Fort York. Undercurrents, a photo-based installation curated by Courtney Miller and Valérie Frappier that calls attention to themes of water, memory, and history will also be on view. Undercurrents is part of The Bentway’s 2019 Community Incubation Program.

The week will culminate with a special event on September 14, as a full harvest moon rises over Toronto, with Moon Merge. Pondercast host Laurie Brown and Juno-nominated electronic composer and musician Joshua Van Tassel will explore how city-dwellers merge with their natural surroundings during a live podcast recording that takes visitors on a virtual journey to the moon and back. The evening includes performances by Toronto-based musicians Choir! Choir! Choir!, Bernice and a special silent disco set by Halifax’s Rich Aucoin.

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Schedule of Events

September 10-15, 6pm – 11pm: Museum of the Moon & multi-channel soundtrack

September 10, 11, 12, 13 & 15, 7:30 pm – 11:00 pm: Universe & Moon Man screenings, co-presented with Fort York National Historic Site

September 10, 11, 12, 13 & 15, 7:30pm – 8pm & 9pm – 9:30pm: Moonlight meditation

Tuesday, September 10, 6:30pm – 7:30pm: Lunar exploration: past, present, and future talk with Sara Mazrouei, co-presented with Fort York National Historic Site

Thursday, September 12, 2019, 6:30pm – 7:30pm: The Legacy of Toronto’s Magnetic Observatory with Kirsten Vanstone, Executive Director of RCIScience. Co-presented with Fort York National Historic Site & the Friends of Fort York.

Saturday, September 14, 2019, 7:30pm – 12:30am: Moon Merge with Pondercast host Laurie Brown and musician Joshua Van Tassell and performances by Choir! Choir! Choir!, Bernice and Rich Aucoin

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About Museum of the Moon

Measuring seven metres in diameter, the moon features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. At an approximate scale of 1:500,000, each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture represents 5km of the moon’s surface.

Over its lifetime, the Museum of the Moon will be presented in a number of different ways both indoors and outdoors, so altering the experience and interpretation of the artwork. As it travels from place to place, it will gather new musical compositions and an ongoing collection of personal responses, stories and mythologies, as well as highlighting the latest moon science. http://my-moon.org/

About Juke Jerram

Luke Jerram’s multidisciplinary practice involves the creation of sculptures, installations and live arts projects. Living in the UK but working internationally for 19 years, Jerram has created a number of extraordinary art projects which have excited and inspired people around the globe. Jerram has a set of different narratives that make up his practice which are developing in parallel with one another. He is known worldwide for his large scale public artworks.