Alan Syliboy’s Humpback Swimming in the Milky Way was sent to the celestial body on the SpaceX Falcon 9’s lunar lander on Feb. 15. It landed on Feb. 22, where it will stay for the rest of time.
It’s part of a global project created by a Toronto poet, archivist and physicist to make the moon a keeper of Earth’s art.
Syliboy is one of 35,000 artists from around the world to send artwork into space.
“When you look at the moon your whole life, you never think that you’re going to have something on that moon, on the moon — that never ever, ever occurs to you,” Syliboy told CBC Radio’s Mainstreet Halifax.
“But now, I have to look at it differently and something’s changed … because there’s a little bit of what I do preserved on the moon.”
Project designed to inspire
The project’s founder, Samuel Peralta, told Mainstreet the idea for the Lunar Codex came just before the COVID-19 pandemic when he was in a “bit of a funk.”
And then the lockdowns hit and “artists were disenfranchised because galleries were closed, music halls were closed, theatres were closed.”
But he had recently learned that private companies could send payloads of materials to the moon using NASA’s outsourced lunar landers.
The Lunar Codex project describes itself as a “message-in-a-bottle to the future” that uses digital and analog technology to preserve art, books and music in a time capsules to be left on the moon.
“I decided to send up one of my poems in one of their payloads, and it’s just a small sliver of a thing. But then I thought: what if I shared that payload space with other artists?” he said.
Samuel Peralta is the creator of the Lunar Codex and its payload co-ordinator. (Antosia Fiedur)
“Would they suddenly feel inspired and be moved to continue working, even though they were surrounded by all the depression that the lockdowns engendered?”
The answer was yes. And the project grew from there, he said.
How it works
Peralta said some of the art being sent is digital, while others, including Syliboy’s painting, are analog.
He said the analog pieces are miniaturized using semiconductor technology and then etched onto dime-sized discs.
“If you look at it under a microscope, you will actually very clearly see Alan’s work,” he said.
“It won’t exactly look like his work now, because what we do is we split it into three channels — the red, the green and blue — and when you combine them together, they form the full colour image.”
He said the discs are then added to his Lunar Codex payload, which is then put into the nose cone of a lunar lander. That nose cone is then ejected from the lunar lander onto the moon.
Mainstreet NS12:22Alan Syliboy’s artwork is now on the moon
Mi’kmaw artist Alan Syliboy has teamed up with the founder of Lunar Codex to send a piece of his art to the moon. Humpback Swimming in the Milky Way was sent to the moon on a SpaceX lunar landing in February, as part of an international project created by Toronto poet, physicist and archivist Samuel Peralta.
Peralta said the project has changed the way artists view the moon.
“The moon has always been an object of inspiration. But now when an artist looks at it, whose work is on it, the moon is transformed. It becomes a deeper representation of how they feel because part of their soul is on it right now.”
Selection of Syliboy’s painting
Peralta said he discovered Syliboy’s painting at an art gallery in Toronto. He and his wife mulled buying the piece, but when they came back to the gallery — it was gone.
So they decided to immortalize it by putting it on the Lunar Codex.
“That way it could achieve some immortality because those discs that are being sent up, they essentially last a million years. They last forever. They will outlast essentially the lifetime of the artist and render a kind of immortality.”
Syliboy said when he started his career, he was inspired by petroglyphs — rock carvings made by people of the past, left behind as messages. He said this is a similar concept.
Mi’kmaw artist Alan Syliboy likens his art being sent to the moon to petroglyphs that were left behind as messages. (Submitted by Alan Syliboy)
“If you think about this, it is almost like a petroglyph. It’s being discovered by someone else,” he said.
“The petroglyphs were left there for me to discover and now … [this painting is] in another place to be discovered, possibly, by some other entity.”
A copy of the song, Ko’jua, performed by Morgan Toney and Alan Syliboy and the Thundermakers, was also sent to the moon.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
