Paul Ramírez Jonas
Artist in the Public Realm









Men on the Moon, Rest Period, 1998





︎︎︎






MATERIALS: Phonograph, 533 wax records, book.


    Since 1990, I have been casting wax cylinders that I record onto with my home made replica of Edison's first sound recording machine. I am re-recording the audio communications of the 23 hours men spent on the Moon during their first mission on July 20 and July 21, 1969.  Each wax record can hold, on average, 60 seconds of sound.  Each cylinder is indexed to the second; and its contents are transcribed onto a 'lyrics' book. Many of the recordings contain static and silence. The project is broken into 4 sections Tranquility finished in 1992, EVA finished in 1996, Rest Period finished in 1998. The last segment is yet to be made.

    You can find documentation of the other segments in this website.