Cortis & Sonderegger
Making of 'AS11-40-5878' (by Edwin Aldrin, 1969)

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Artist Cortis & SondereggerSwiss, active since 2005

Artist Jojakim CortisSwiss, born 1978

Artist Adrian SondereggerSwiss, born 1980

CultureSwiss

Titles

Making of 'AS11-40-5878' (by Edwin Aldrin, 1969)
from the series Icons

Date2014

MediumChromogenic print

DimensionsSheet: 27 1/2 × 41 1/2 in. (69.9 × 105.4 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Julie Brook Alexander; the Museum Collectors; James Edward Maloney; and Alia Khan and George Eleftheriou

Object number2018.218

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

Description

With wit and artistry, the Swiss artists Cortis and
Sonderegger re-create the most famous photographs in history. This work of art
does not merely replicate Aldrin’s 1969 photograph. By leaving their tools and
materials—a bag of cement, wire, and wood—visible, the artists invite a
detailed investigation of their product at the center. Details often overlooked
in the original are revealed by this studio construction—the mysterious shadows
cast by rocks, the delicate texture of the surface, and the boot print,
carefully sited in the frame. Its position suggests that it could be the
viewer’s own footstep, and therefore his or her own “leap for mankind.”

ProvenanceThe artists; [Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2018.
Exhibition History"Shooting the Moon: Photographs from the Museum's Collection 50 Years after Apollo 11," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 20–September 2, 2019.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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