What would artists do if they could fly on the moon?

One thing I was trying to understand would be the deep ambivalence that every human being could feel when he finds himself in a place where he can not survive. The only way to grasp the absurdity of thinking that I wanted to be there at the beginning is to use humor. I think that my first creative act after landing on the moon would be to decompress my spacesuit and pee in a space without gravity, in a futile effort to mark my territory.

(Mr. Fischl is a painter and sculptor based in Sag Harbor, New York)

Thomas Ruff

A few years ago, I realized a project with the European Space Agency where they invited artists to ride in what they call the "comet of vomit" – a plane that runs through Parabolic atmosphere to create a sensation of weightlessness. They use it to train astronauts; you get about 30 seconds of zero gravity at a time. I've taken a series of self-portraits in weightlessness: me floating in space. So maybe I'll be qualified for a lunar mission. I have already attended some of the training.

For me, the most interesting thing about the moon is the dark side: the side we never see from the Earth. The first astronauts were nervous when they circled the moon because you lost radio contact until you reappeared on the other side. So I would like to photograph that and continue to photograph as we shoot and the Earth gets up. From Earth, you can not change the angle you look at the moon – we are stuck with the same angle and depend on sunlight – while in a spaceship you can maneuver freely. I would like to use this, and photograph from every possible angle.

(Mr. Ruff is a photographer based in Düsseldorf, Germany.)

Tacita Dean

Over the years, I have filmed three solar eclipses, so the moon has always been one of the main actors in my work. I collect stones, so if I had to land on the moon rather than just put it in orbit, the surface would excite me immediately: the moon is shaking; all these meteorites, billions of years.

I would like to make a film about the experience just to be on the moon, focusing on the detail, exactly what it was. I would not like to pre-imagine the experience; I just watched. Absorb as much as I can.

Honestly, though, I would be very excited by the relative weightlessness of the moon. I am lame because of arthritis, so the fact that there is a sixth of gravity would be extremely liberating. I am known for my static camera positions, but on the moon, I could be mobile and able to carry my camera. That alone would be incredible.

(Ms. Dean is an artist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles.)