
Exchanging the gallery space for a transparent box in space, the American artist Jeff Koons now has one of his works of art on the moon.
On Thursday, a sculpture called “Moon Phases” hitched a ride on the Odysseus lunar lander as it touched down on the moon. It marked the United States’ first landing on the lunar surface in more than 50 years.
The artwork depicts 125 mini-sculptures of the moon contained in a box, measuring about one inch in diameter. “Moon Phases” shows 62 phases of the moon as seen from Earth, 62 phases visible from other viewpoints in space, and one lunar eclipse.

Each sculpture is inscribed with the name of a groundbreaking figure in human history, including Aristotle, David Bowie, Leonardo da Vinci, Gandhi, Billie Holiday, Gabriel García Márquez, Andy Warhol and Virginia Woolf. Koons “has drawn inspiration from the Moon as a symbol of curiosity and determination,” according to a statement from his gallery, Pace.
But the art market wouldn’t be able to do much with far-flung sculptures “exhibited” in outer space, so there’s a commercial component to Koons’ project as well. Pace Verso, the NFT wing of Pace, is also offering NFTs of each sculpture, while Koons has produced larger, coinciding physical sculptures of his “Moon Phases” to remain on Earth.