Mikael Genberg

Last updated

Mikael Genberg
Mikael Genberg.jpg
Genberg at TEDxArendal, Norway, 2019
Born1963or1964(age 61–62)
CitizenshipSweden
OccupationArtist

Mikael Genberg (1963or1964 [1] ) is a Swedish artist who makes traditional red Swedish cottages with white corners. In 1999, he sent a small cardstock version of the house into space on board the STS-128 mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery. In 2025, he sent a house the size of a "big hand" to the Moon on Hakuto-R Mission 2, but it crash landed. Genberg has also placed a house of this design in a tree, has sent one to the Great Wall of China, has placed one on the Avicii Arena in Sweden and has used one to make Utter Inn, which offers underwater accommodation.

Contents

Career

Genberg's works are based on the design of red traditional Swedish homes with white corners, which he says is the design that a Swedish child typically draws when asked to draw a house. Genberg grew up in one of these homes. [1]

In 1999 when Genberg learnt that SMART-1, a probe that went to the Moon, was made by the Swedish Space Corporation, he came up with the idea of sending a traditional red Swedish house to the Moon. In 2009, Genberg sent a cardstock version of the house up into space, and it was unfolded by Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang on the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-128, which went to the International Space Station. [2]

On 26 May 2009, Genberg placed a small cottage in aluminum with a 12-square-metre (130 sq ft) base on the Globe of Avicii Arena, an indoor arena in Sweden. Genberg intended it to illustrate two important symbols for Sweden: the high-technology Globe building and the traditional, simple small countryside cottage in Falu red with white trim. The house was positioned some distance from the exact top position of the Globe. [3] The cottage remained on the Globe until October 2009. [4] [5]

Genberg has made a red Swedish house that offers underwater accommodation (Utter Inn). Another one he has made has gone to the Great Wall of China and another one in a tree. [6]

The Moonhouse was a red and white Swedish house that was sent to the Moon in 2025. It was 10 centimetres (3.9 in) tall, 8 centimetres (3.1 in) wide and 12 centimetres (4.7 in) long, or about the size of a "big hand". [6] It was too small to live in but was originally planed by Genberg as being 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) and would unfold on the Moon's surface. The house was launched to the Moon in June 2025 on the Hakuto-R Mission 2. [2] [7] The idea was that the house would be dropped onto the lunar regolith, and the rover would take pictures of it, [7] [6] but the mission failed and the lander crashed onto the Moon. [8] About 7–10 Swedish kronor (US$620,000–$888,000) was donated to the project by 70 donors, which included the flight cost. [6]

References

  1. 1 2 "A little red house will probably land on the moon in 4 months. Here is how". The Week. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 Robert Z. Pearlman (14 January 2025). "Little house on the (moon) prairie: Artist's 'Moonhouse' set to lift off on lunar lander". Space. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  3. ↑ "Världsunika multiarenan Avicii Arena". SGA Fastigheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  4. ↑ "Röd stuga på Globens topp" [Red cottage on the top of the Globe] (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 23 May 2009. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  5. ↑ "Video: Stuga placerad på Globens tak" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 26 May 2009. Archived from the original on 18 August 2009. (The sequence starts automatically within a few seconds.)
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Mission to moon carries tiny red Swedish home to space". AP News. 14 January 2025. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  7. 1 2 Mike Wall (5 June 2025). "Building the 'Moonhouse': Q&A with artist Mikael Genberg". Space. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  8. ↑ Clark, Stephen (6 June 2025). "A Japanese lander crashed on the Moon after losing track of its location". Ars Technica. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.