Gaia

Surreal installation in the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College by Luke Jerram.

I’ve been wanting to see this work, which has travelled around the country for ages, but it seems to have just left various places I’ve visited so I was pleased to see it was going to be near where I live and it was a good excuse to go and see the recently refurbished Painted Hall.

This giant, internally lit, scale replica of the earth hung in the hall and is meant to represent the view of the earth from space. It revolves slowly and there were couches set up which people had sunk onto to watch it mesmerised. It was accompanied by a specially commissioned surround-sound composition by Dan Jones.

The effect was beautiful, calming and a dazzling blue contrast to the muted colours of the walls and ceiling. As you looked at the hall itself you kept looking back and being surprised to see it hanging there. It felt like it had been captured in the space. A strange bringing of the whole of the outside inside.

Closes 1 July 2020

 

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