''Gaia'' is a 2018 inflatable

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific art, site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior intervent ...

work by

Luke Jerram Luke Jerram (born 1974) is a British installation artist. He creates sculptures, large artwork installations, and live arts projects. Artwork Jerram's work has been featured in over 900 exhibitions and is in over 50 permanent collections, incl ...

currently in the library of Trinity Collage. It is a spherical replica of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, with a diameter of , and named after the Greek primordial goddess

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

personification Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person, often as an embodiment or incarnation. In the arts, many things are commonly personified, including: places, especially cities, National personification, countries, an ...

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 A gas balloon is a balloon that rises and floats in the air because it is filled with a gas lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). When not in flight, it is tethered to prevent it from flying away and is sealed at the bottom to prevent t ...

made by

Cameron Balloons Cameron Balloons is a company (law), company established in 1971 in Bristol, England, by Don Cameron (manufacturer), Don Cameron to manufacture hot air balloons. Cameron had previously, with others, constructed ten hot air balloons under t ...

, covered with 50 panels of 120

dpi DPI may refer to: Organizations * Department of Public Information, related to U.N. *Daffodil Polytechnic Institute, an educational institution of Bangladesh * Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, an educational institution of Bangladesh * Disabled Peop ...

printed imagery of the Earth's surface from multiple satellite images stitched together, at a scale of about 1:1,800,000, or to . The sphere is lit internally when installed in a dark place, to create a glowing floating orb. When viewed from a distance of , ''Gaia'' is the same size as the Earth seen from the Moon. ''Gaia'' was first shown the

Bluedot Festival Bluedot was a music, science and culture event held annually in July from 2016 to 2023 at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, combining music, live science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks. The event is endorsed by t ...

Jodrell Bank Jodrell Bank Observatory ( ) in Cheshire, England hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astron ...

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 Blue Marble'' is a photograph of Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by either Ronald Evans (astronaut), Ron Evans or Harrison Schmitt aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the Moon. Viewed from around from Earth's surface, a crop ...

'', the 1972 photograph of the Earth by either

Ron Evans Ronald Barry Evans Order of Australia, AM (7 July 1939 – 9 March 2007) was an Australian rules footballer, Chairman of the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1998 to 2007, as well as President of the Essendon Football Club from 1988 to 19 ...

Harrison Schmitt Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt (born July 3, 1935) is an American geologist, former NASA astronaut, university professor, former U.S. senator from New Mexico. He is the most recent living person—and only person without a background in military a ...

, astronauts from

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, ...

. Its physical impact is said to create a form of

overview effect The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from outer space, space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendence, self-transcendent qualities, precipitated b ...

in some observers. The work follows Jerram's 2016 ''

Museum of the Moon ''Museum of the Moon'' is a 2016 inflatable installation artwork by Luke Jerram. It is a spherical model of the Moon, with a diameter of . Several copies tour the world for temporary exhibitions, often accompanied by music. There are also ...

'', a similar spherical replica of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

, at a scale of about 1:500,000, or to .

References

''Gaia''
website
Science Museum

Moon artist Luke Jerram unveils giant Earth sculpture
BBC News, 20 July 2018 {{Luke Jerram artworks 2018 works Installation art works by Luke Jerram