Gaia is a seven metre diameter sphere, featuring 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the earth’s surface. The artwork provides the opportunity to see our planet on this scale, floating in three-dimensions.
The artwork is 1.8 million times smaller than the real earth with each centimetre of the internally lit sculpture describing 18km of the earth’s surface. By standing 211m away from the artwork, viewers will be able to see the Earth as it appears from the moon.
The 3D installation will rotate once every four minutes, which is 360 times faster than our real planet. During evening opening times, the specially made surround sound composition by BAFTA award winning composer Dan Jones will also be played.
The imagery for the artwork has been compiled from Visible Earth series, NASA. Gaia has been created in partnership with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Bluedot and the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres. For more information about the artwork, please visit http://my-earth.org/ (Source: Peterborough Cathedral)
After successfully hosting The Museum of the Moon in October last year, Peterborough Cathedral has again played host to another of Luke Jerram's visually stunning touring artwork. Earth/Gaia was in the Cathedral from 19 August until 15 September and I only had the chance of visiting it on the week before it closed.
Gaia occupied the same space as that of The Museum of the Moon. The difference between the two is that Gaia actually moves while that of the Moon was stationary. And both are best viewed at night time but again my circumstances only allows me to view both during the daytime. But Gaia is still stunning nonetheless, just like that of the Moon.
All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2K8BUl6) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2YvqiMJ).
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