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The Lightroom in King’s Cross is shaping up to be London’s most intriguing new venue, picking up on the current trend for projection-based exhibitions and immersive experiences, but actually doing it to a high technical standard (not just a projector set up in a manky old warehouse).
Following on from the highly successful David Hockney exhibition ‘Bigger & Closer’ – possibly the first ever projection-based exhibition that the actual artist was involved with – here comes something completely different, from an arguably even bigger name.
Tom Hanks, it turns out, is a massive space nut, whose imagination was captured as a child by the Apollo landings. When he’s not being generally avuncular and beloved, he’s dabbled in work about the moon: he produced the HBO miniseries ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ and co-wrote the IMAX film ‘Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D’.
And here’s his latest lunar endeavour. ‘The Moonwalkers’ is an epic immersive experience that will combine original NASA footage of the Apollo landings and photos from Andy Saunders’s stunning photobook ‘Apollo Remastered’ with an original score from Anne Nikitin. Plus, of course, lots of Hanks.
He will narrate a script by him and co-writer Christopher Riley telling the story of man’s expeditions to the moon and looking into its future. It will also feature interviews between Hanks and the astronauts of the upcoming Artemis expedition, which is intended to take man back to the moon for the first time in 50 years.
It’s also a brand-new production Hanks has made especially for us: it’s not some sort of transfer or New York’s sloppy seconds. Maybe it won’t quite transport you to the moon’s surface – but the Lightroom’s dazzling technical abilities should make you a few space miles closer, at the very least.
Though we’re not quite clear of the details, it seems like the Hockney exhibition will disappear for a bit but return in 2024, with the suggestion that Lightroom may simply run different shows on different days. Such are the joys of projection!
‘The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks’ is at Lightroom Dec 6-Apr 21 2024. Tickets are on sale now and cost £25-£29.50.
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