A lucky few now have their skin kissed by the light of an alien sun.
That light was created on Earth, in the world’s first „star tanning salon,” which opened this week. Future Festival In Munich, Germany.
The salon’s lights simulate a spectrum of stars, from the bright, blue-white Vega to the bloated Betelgeuse, a red supergiant whose life will soon end in a violent supernova explosion.
„With a Star Dawn, you can experience life on alien planets,” conceptual artist Jonathan Keats, who developed the idea, said in a statement. „You get the benefits of space tourism without the hassle and expense.”
Keats’s own tastes in starlight run toward coolness, though he may be willing to branch out a bit.
„I get sunburned whenever I go outside, so a brown dwarf would be perfect for me,” he told Space.com via email from Germany. „But I’m enjoying a very hot summer afternoon, so I’m tempted by WR 142 or LMC195-1 — and would lose them to a supernova any day.”
Related: 20 Years of Otherworldly Thought Experiments: A Q&A with Artist Jonathan Keats
Like many of Keats’s projects, the new tanning salon, designed by Noran Becker, aims to provoke a change of perspective: it invites visitors to think beyond themselves and their own planet. The vast universe.
For example, the salon offers meteorite mineral water, which is imbued with the essence of other worlds like Mars. You can rub elbows with Mars while catching some rays; Everyone is welcome at the salon, including anyone who finds our sunshine attractive.
„The salon is a place where beings from all over the universe come together to find common ground,” Keats said in the same statement.
„You can think of it as a galactic community center — one with a nice communal spa,” he added. „It’s the perfect way to show that we’re all aliens — and we’re all cosmic humans.”
The Munich installation will be the first of many star tanning salons, if all goes according to plan. As usual, Keats thinks big in this project.
„Simply, the next interstellar tannery will be located in another galaxy, or at least on a planet orbiting a star other than our Sun. It seems reasonable, given that we get the benefit of tanning under otherworldly light. We can share what our solar system has to offer with creatures elsewhere. Take,” he told Space.com.
„If another star setting is not possible, I am interested in bringing a star tanning salon to Club Med,” he added. „People who go there clearly appreciate the sun, so I think it’s a natural place to expand the horizons.”