(via) We’ve thought of several improvements for Gastown’s Blood Alley over the years, including this urine-deflecting arrangement to control the noxious smell, but I think this one might be the best. Prolific British artist Luke Jerram‘s Museum of the Moon installation has toured European cities but has yet to make landfall in North America. If/when it does, we think it should illuminate the western entrance to Blood Alley, its giant (or…er…tiny) balloon facsimile of the moon lighting the way to Carrall St. in all its glowing, detailed glory. The sphere’s seven-foot diameter makes for an approximate scale of 1:500,000, which translates to each centimetre of the sphere equalling five kilometres of moon, the surface of which is represented using exacting composites gleaned from Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.

To date, every Museum of the Moon venue has come with its own collection of moon-inspired ancillary performances, talks, and events dealing with the locations’ lunar relationships. For Blood Alley, that could mean anything; there could be artistic representations of First Nations’ 13 Moons traditions, a variety of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations (if timed right, with moon cakes for the win) and lectures on Japanese, Indian, Gallic, Anglo-Celtic lunar myths and legends.

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