A couple of years ago Reading Town Hall played host to an art work called Gaia by the artist Luke Jerram. Essentially this was a giant inflatable ball with an image of the Earth printed on it and suspended from the ceiling, slowly rotating to a soundtrack. I’m sure that Jerram wouldn’t describe it in such base terms but basically that’s what it is.
Helios
When we saw that the local National Trust property Basildon Park was going to be hosting another of Jerram’s works we thought that it would be worth a visit.
This time the subject was the sun rather than the earth and a hot summers evening turned out to be a perfect time to visit.
Unlike Gaia Helios was hosted outdoors, suspended from a gantry with the ball tethered. This meant that it was not continuously rotating like Gaia but only rocked gently when the wind blew it. Once again there was an interesting soundtrack that played alongside including both music and spoken word.
Clearly, the National Trust thought that it was going to be a popular attraction as they were staying open late until 10 p.m. while hosting it (and also co-commisioned it). I thought that it could go either way and wondered whether we’d be the only ones there. As we drove into the car park, it was obvious that it was going to be very popular, and walking up to it, there were plenty of people sitting on the provided bean bags taking in the view and eating picnics.
Helios leaves Basidon Park at the end of the bank holiday weekend, but then continues its tour at a couple of National Trust places, including a personal favourite, Fountains Abbey. Go to the site below for more details.
Having enjoyed both this, Helios, and Gaia I’m now keen to compete the set of Moon and Mars so I’ll be keeping a look out for them coming close to us in the future.
You may also be interested in Jerram’s book showcasing his work.
