The University of New Mexico Art Museum is pleased to announce that it has received a $55,000 National Endowment for the Arts Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) award. The award supports the exhibition The Double Planet: Reflections on the Moon, which will be on view January 29-May 17, 2027 at UNMAM. 

The Double Planet explores the moon’s influence on both art and science. Bringing together contemporary and historic works, the exhibition considers how the moon has inspired artistic expression and scientific discovery while celebrating and critically examining its place in human history and cultural imagination. 

This award recognizes the innovative role that academic museums such as UNMAM can play in the life of a campus and in the community,” says UNMAM Director Arif Khan. “We’re grateful to the NEA for its support of the creative, interdisciplinary work that this exhibition spotlights.” 

Coinciding with NASA’s planned 2027 Artemis III Mission — the first crewed return to the lunar surface in more than 50 years — the exhibition includes works by contemporary artists with objects from fine art, cartography, anthropology, natural history and science collections at the University of New Mexico and beyond. Together, the artworks and objects invite visitors to consider how living beings, including humans, animals and plants, understand and relate to planetary bodies. 

“We’ve organized the exhibition with the goal of balancing awe and wonder with critical thinking,” says UNMAM Curator of Prints and Drawings Angel Jiang. “We hope that it encourages visitors to experience and consider artworks and scientific objects in dialogue.” 

The exhibition curatorial team consists of UNMAM Curator of Prints and Drawings Angel Jiang, who is the Project Director; Bre Kappel, UNMAM Curatorial Assistant and UNM Hibben Fellow; Stewart Copeland, UNM Assistant Professor in Experimental Art & Technology and Director of ARTSLab; Welly Fletcher, UNM Associate Professor of Sculpture; and Meggan Gould, UNM Professor of Photography and Associate Dean of Research. 

The exhibition is organized into three sections: “Instrumentation,” which explores how artists and scientists produce and visualize scientific knowledge; “Lunar Pull,” which demonstrates biological and cultural attractions to the moon; and “Worlds Beyond Our World,” which offers speculative approaches to world-building both on and beyond Earth. 

About the National Endowment for the Arts 
Established by Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. To learn more, visit arts.gov.