The Moon Goose Analogue: Lunar Migration Bird Facility
Agnes Meyer-Brandis
(2011)
Agnes Meyer-Brandis, with her subtle sense of humour, mixes science and fiction, the possible with the impossible and today with the past. Her huge project The Moon Goose Colony is based on the bookThe Man in the Moone, written in 1603 by the English bishop, Francis Godwin. In that book, the protagonist flies to the moon with a flying machine pulled by moon geese. Meyer-Brandis wants to breathe new life into this old story by raising eleven geese and training them as astronauts. From the moment the geese hatched, they began a process taking months in which the geese learn to fly in formation, receive ‘zero-gravity training’ and theoretical education about space and life on the moon. They also accompany the artist on expeditions.
The film at the exhibition tells the story of Agnes Meyer-Brandis’ colony of moon geese. The geese are currently living in a simulation habitat in a field of craters in Italy, where they are preparing for life between heaven and earth.