Gaia at Millennium Point: see Planet Earth through the eyes of an astronaut

Luke Jerram brings his Gaia artwork to Millennium Point - celebrating the wonder of Planet Earth.

Featuring detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface - the Gaia sculpture is said to give visitors the chance to appreciate the majesty of our planet as never seen before.

Gaia will be exhibited at Millennium Point for visitors from the 1st February to the 28th March.

Sculpture created from high resolution NASA imagery

Luke Jerram, the artist behind Gaia, said: “So Gaia is the seven metre diameter sculpture, all created out of high resolution NASA imagery. And it’s 1.8 million times smaller than the actual Earth.

“So it’s a replica of the Earth, which is suspended now in Millennium Point, and it’s slowly turning, it’s on a little motor that makes it revolve.

“And it’s been created really to sort of inspire something called the Overview Effect, which is where astronauts have this amazing feeling of awe and wonder when they look down at the earth for the first time when they go into space.

“Well, for me, I suppose it’s very much about climate change, and how we’re all interconnected on the planet, and how we need to change society very quickly to deal with this sort of climate crisis.

“And so I’m hoping this artwork will both sort of inspire people to think about how precious our home is, but also to sort of inspire and act as a catalyst for conversation around the climate crisis and what we need to do to change society to make ourselves more sustainable.”

Project has been two years in the making

Abi Vlahakis, CEO of Millennium Point, said: “So we’re really excited to have Gaia here at Millennium Point.

“It’s been two years in the making, for us as a charity that supports STEM education, which is science, technology, engineering, maths, to have some things so awe inspiring, like Gaia, which really promotes space, the environment is just an amazing thing to have here.”

Free events around Gaia including yoga classes

Rebecca Delmer, Commercial Director of Millennium Point, said: “We’re running a series of events around this where the public can come and do things such as yoga under the Gaia completely free of charge.

“They can bring the family down and their children, and we’re working with our partner’s Thinktank in order for them to do client buskers and learn about sustainability and climate change.”

Gaia is free to visit, open to all ages and no booking is required. For more information and to plan your visit, go to: Millennium Point Gaia

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