Gaia is a 2018 inflatable installation artwork by Luke Jerram. It is a spherical replica of the Earth, with a diameter of 7 metres (23 ft), and named after the Greek primordial goddess Gaia, personification of the Earth. Several copies tour the world for temporary exhibitions, often accompanied by music, with copies in the collections of several public museums.
The sculpture is based on a helium balloon made by Cameron Balloons, covered with 50 panels of 120dpi printed imagery of the Earth's surface from multiple satellite images stitched together, at a scale of about 1:1,800,000, or 1 centimetre (0.39 in) to 18 kilometres (11 mi). The sphere is lit internally when installed in a dark place, to create a glowing floating orb. When viewed from a distance of 211 m (692 ft), Gaia is the same size as the Earth seen from the Moon.
Gaia was first shown the Bluedot Festival at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire in 2018. An example was shown at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in 2021.
The work has been compared to The Blue Marble, the 1972 photograph of the Earth by astronauts from Apollo 17. Its physical impact is said to create a form of overview effect in some observers.
The work follows Jerram's 2016 Museum of the Moon, a similar 7 metres (23 ft) spherical replica of the Moon, at a scale of about 1:500,000, or 1 centimetre (0.39 in) to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi).
References
- Gaia website
- Science Museum
- Moon artist Luke Jerram unveils giant Earth sculpture, BBC News, 20 July 2018
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