Infrastructures created to test the various extraction technologies, lunar laboratories are present in many private companies and institutions around the world. The Down to Earth exhibit stages one to popularize space exploration stories

The Luxembourg Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale is transformed into a lunar laboratory.

Down to Earth aims to reveal the background of the mining project in space. A way of seeing the Moon that goes beyond the current perspective of the Anthropocene.

The project starts from the following questions:

How does this space race, with its false promises about the infinite availability of resources, deviate from the current extractive logic of capitalism and its destructive social and environmental effects?

How will the current privatization of space - and the tendency for private companies to take the lead in the exploitation of space resources - affect the current condition of extraterrestrial organisms understood as a form of 'common planetary goods'?

What are the materialities of mining in space - the logistics, technologies, infrastructures and workers that constitute it - and what is their relationship with the existing hierarchies of geopolitical power?

And finally, how can architects critically resolve the ramifications of these material fantasies, rooted in existing growth paradigms?

See also: Architecture Biennale 2023: information, calendar and updates

Francelle Cane and Marija Marić © Antoine Espinasseau, 2023
Francelle Cane and Marija Marić - © Antoine Espinasseau, 2023

The Lunar Laboratory

In addition to spaces intended for scientific experiments, lunar laboratories are places of production of images of human technology on the Moon.

Rebuilt to specifications in an original workshop, this work will consist of a pinewood tub filled with basalt earth and man-made rocks.

Visitors will be able to walk through the Laboratory as if they were on a stage.

The Movie

Created in collaboration with artist Armin Linke, the Film will feature footage, archival materials and conversations with researchers, artists, representatives of the extractive sector in space and/or other organizations based in different countries, including Luxembourg, and beyond.

Heals us

Francelle Cane and Marija Marić are architects, researchers and curators based in Luxembourg. Their research activity is linked to the University of Luxembourg.

SnT University of Luxembourg, LunaLab, training robots for space mining,…
SnT University of Luxembourg, LunaLab, training robots for space mining

Luxembourg Pavilion, Biennale 2023, in brief

  • Title: Down to Earth
  • Curators: Francelle Cane and Marija Marić
  • Exhibitors: Francelle Cane and Marija Marić in collaboration with Armin Linke and Lev Bratishenko
  • Commissioners: Kultur | lx - Arts Council Luxembourg; luca – Luxembourg Center for Architecture
  • Visual identity: OK-RM
  • Video: Armin Linke
  • Support: Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte Luxembourg - Let's Make It Happen
  • Workshop: How to mind the Moon, curated by Lev Bratishenko, Francelle Cane and Marija Marić
  • More information www.kulturlx.lu www.instagram.com/venicebiennaleluxembourg/
Arsenale, Sale d’Armi, 1st floor_© DR
Arsenale, Sale d’Armi, 1st floor - © DR
#PAVILIONS BIENNALE 2023 #Biennale2023-en
fb tw messenger tel

See
also

The Brazilian Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale, Giardini
#PAVILIONS BIENNALE 2023

The Brazilian Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale, Giardini

The Estonian Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale, Salizada Streta 96, Venice
#PAVILIONS BIENNALE 2023

The Estonian Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale, Salizada Streta 96, Venice

The French Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale, Giardini
#PAVILIONS BIENNALE 2023

The French Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale, Giardini

The Georgia Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale, The White Garden Art Space
#PAVILIONS BIENNALE 2023

The Georgia Pavilion at the 2023 Biennale, The White Garden Art Space