Jeff Koons is Sending New Sculptures to the Moon as Part of His First NFT Project

Quick take:

• Each NFT will correspond to a physical sculpture.
• A group of sculptures will be sent to the moon.
• Proceeds from one of the first NFT sales will be donated to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières.

Famed American artist Jeff Koons has revealed his first NFT project, titled ‘Moon Phases’. Each NFT from the Moon Phases collection corresponds to a physical sculpture. 

As part of the NFT project, a group of physical sculptures will be sent on a lunar lander developed by Houston-based company, Intuitive Machines, in partnership with NASA.

Koons’ ‘Moon Phases’ NFT collection will be available for purchase via Pace Verso, his gallery’s NFT platform. Proceeds from one of the first NFT sales will be donated to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières.

“I wanted to create a historically meaningful NFT project rooted in humanistic and philosophical thought,” Koons said in a statement. “Space explorations have given us a perspective of our ability to transcend worldly constraints. These ideas are central to my NFT project, which can be understood as a continuation and celebration of humanity’s aspirational accomplishments within and beyond our own planet.”

For the lunar expedition, the spacecraft carrying the physical sculptures corresponding to the NFTs, named Nova-C, will take off from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. If successful, Nova-C will land on Oceanus Procellarum, the hemisphere of the moon that faces the earth. 

Nova-C measures two by three metres and has a load capacity of 100kg, which means that the sculptures that will be sent to the moon won’t be the size of Koons’ famous larger-than-life sculptures.

Intuitive Machines is in a space race with its competitor Astrorobotic, which has also partnered with NASA to send artwork by Dubai-based artist Sacha Jafri on a lunar lander later this year on the United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket.

If Intuitive Machines lands on the moon first, Jeff Koons’ sculptures will be the first “authorised pieces” of art to reach the lunar surface, according to Intuitive Machines vice president Jack Fischer. Upon landing, the sculptures will be encased in a transparent and thermally coated satellite named CubeSats.

Fischer added that the location of the lunar landing will become Lunar Landing Heritage site—historically important parts of the moon recognised by NASA and its affiliated partners.

However, neither Koons nor Jafri will be the first artists to have their work landing on the moon. Belgian artist Paul van Hoeydonck had his aluminium sculpture placed on the moon in 1971.

Jeff Koons is one of the world’s richest living artists. With a net worth of $500 million, he trails just behind Damien Hirst, who’s worth $1 billion and has also launched NFT collections of his own.