Moon: A Global Work of Art

In 2013 renowned artists Ai Wei Wei and Olafur Eliason set out to create a piece of digital art together. The intent was to create something that transcends borders (which, at the time, Ai Wei Wei was not legally allowed to do himself). Although they were internationally renowned in other artistic media, neither artist had ever worked in digital media.

Cactus team members led the creative direction and technical implementation of Moon, a continuously evolving open online interface where global participants could mark and explore a digital moonscape. Launched at the Falling Walls conference in November 2013, this interactive lunar landscape grew from a blank white canvas to a dense collection of over 80,000 entries. While it was active, the project was egalitarian in nature: accessible to anyone with an internet connection, offering “graffiti” space for international messaging, and democratizing the creative process.

Moon’s open call for contributions became a powerful statement about the potential for ideas to connect people across vast distances and to break through political, social, and geographical boundaries in the internet age. It also enabled Ai Weiwei’s meaningful participation in the conference, even from afar in China.