One thing I’d try and figure out would be the profound ambivalence any human would feel finding themselves in a place where they’re not able to survive. The only way I could grasp the absurdity of having thought that I wanted to be there in the first place is to resort to humor. I think my first creative act after landing on the moon would be to unzip my spacesuit and pee into gravity-less space, in a futile effort to mark my territory.
(Mr. Fischl is a painter and sculptor based in Sag Harbor, N.Y.)
Thomas Ruff
A few years ago, I did a project with the European Space Agency where they invited artists to go up in what they call the “vomit comet” — a plane that flies parabolic maneuvers high in the atmosphere, to create the sensation of weightlessness. They use it for training astronauts; you get about 30 seconds of zero gravity at a time. I took a series of self portraits in zero gravity: Me floating in space. So maybe I would be qualified for a moon mission. I’ve already done some of the training.
To me, the most interesting thing about the moon is the dark side: The side we never see from Earth. The first astronauts were nervous when they went around the moon, because you lose radio contact until you reappear around the other side. So I’d want to photograph that, and keep photographing as we came around and as the Earth rose again. From the Earth you can’t change the angle you look at the moon — we’re stuck with the same angle and depend on the light of the sun — whereas in a spacecraft you can maneuver freely. I’d want to use that, and photograph from every angle I could.
(Mr. Ruff is a photographer based in Düsseldorf, Germany.)
Tacita Dean
I’ve filmed three solar eclipses over the years, so the moon has always been a principal player in my work. I collect stones, so if I got to land on the moon rather than just orbit it, the surface would immediately excite me: the moon rock itself; all those meteorites, billions of years old.
I’d want to make a film about the experience simply of being on the moon, concentrating on the detail of it, exactly what it was like. I wouldn’t try to pre-imagine the experience; I’d just observe. Absorb as much as I can.
Honestly, though, I’d be most excited by the relative weightlessness of the moon. I limp because of arthritis, so the fact that there’s one-sixth gravity up there would be hugely liberating. I’m known for my static camera positions, but on the moon I could be mobile, and able to carry my camera. That alone would be amazing.
(Ms. Dean is an artist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles.)
