When the Apollo crew entered the
LEM (lunar exploration module) after walking on the Moon, they smelt.
But the Moon - having no atmosphere - does not smell. It's a product of
the gritty, tacky dust which covers its surface and attaches easily to
spacesuits and astronauts. On re-entering their space craft the Apollo
crew carried in the dust, which reacted with oxygen and moisture for the
very first time, giving off a scent the men likened to gunpowder.
WE
COLONISED THE MOON, Hagen Betzwieser and Sue Corke, work with the
concept of false memory, creating mementos from inaccessible places
which become - by association - definitive experiences. Their
installation recalls the photographic imagery of early astronaut
training, where men in spacesuits performed for the press as NASA worked
to build momentum for the first Moon landing.
Every weekend throughout the
exhibition run, visitors can witness a theatrical ceremony in which a
lone astronaut 'gardens' artificial rocks, spraying them with the
synthesised scent of the moon, in a space which is neither 'here' nor
'there'. At other times the installation once more becomes the billion
year old lunar desert, where the lingering distinctive smell still
pollinates those who enter.