To the Moon is a VR installation artwork created by artists Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang to commemorate the 50thanniversary of the moon landing.
Let’s talk about how we entered the experience, before our VR experience to the moon. It felt like you were completely alone, peacefully walking into space, similar to a meditating state.
There is a lot of trust involved to allow another device to create your imagination on your behalf. The simulation of being able to virtually fly felt exciting, while the music was reflective and brought a calming affect to afore mentioned stimulation.
What I saw created a memory with no feelings, perhaps because I have not created the experience myself, to allow emotions to be attached.
Visually, there was not a lot of colour. At one point there was a donkey ride, that brought with it feelings of familiarity. Another constant were the glimpses of Earth – an assurance, maybe, that it was never too far away.
The whole exhibition felt like a learning experience – one that didn’t require too much concentration, yet still impacted on my picture memory. With a picture memory experience I believe it helps those, with a short attention span, to learn cognitively.
The learning continues though, as we exit the VR, I believe we can imagine more from the smaller amount that was shown. It was almost like entering another artists’ head, I feel it does not allow you to create an opinion, but rather an experience. Just like any other artistic piece of work, it is a way of speaking, whilst others listen, without interruption.
