UAE’s ‘Museum of the Moon’ Allows You to Go on an Extraordinary Adventure

One of the emirate’s experiential play museums now has its own full Moon to entice visitors.

Measuring an incredible five metres in diameter, the giant awe-inspiring moon, titled ‘Museum of the Moon’ was unveiled this weekend and will stay here for the next six months. It is an inflatable touring artwork by Bristol-based installation artist Luke Jerram, and is on display at OliOli gallery as part of its third anniversary celebrations.

Crafted using highly detailed Nasa imagery, visitors can get closer than ever to an amazing replica of the earth’s moon. The moon is internally illuminated, with each centimetre of the artwork representing 5km of the actual moon.

The most striking part of the installation is the bike placed in front of it where captivating pictures (in silhouette) can be taken that alludes to the iconic movie poster of the 1982 Steven Spielberg film E.T. presenting the silhouette of a biker in front of a gigantic moonrise. The charm of the art space is further uplifted by mirrors lighting the infinity Moon theme.

Explaining the inspiration behind making the Museum of the Moon, Asha Ramchandani, co-founder of OliOli, said: “We always try to do something that hasn’t happened before. When we saw this moon. we realised this was the most viewed installation in the UK last year.

This year also marks the success in UAE’s space exploration missions and the country is looking to launch future missions to land on the Moon by 2024. So, this artwork introduces the subject of space to families in an exciting and hands-on manner.

“In these pandemic times, when people are a little low, an inspiring work like this will give them that opportunity and purpose to step out. I feel people will really like it and this will help lift their spirits when they encounter the new visual experience.”

The Museum of the Moon comes with a surround sound composition created by BAFTA and Ivor Novello award-winning composer Dan Jones and has already travelled to 30 countries so far. The art exhibit is also home to a series of fun-packed lunar inspired events for adults and children.

The lineup of activities at the venue include a journey of the lunar landing sites, VR moon buggy experience, interactive games like rocket racing to the moon, crafts station and a soon-to-come, yoga and meditation by the moon.