Inside Out organisers celebrate success of Earth artwork exhibition

Gaia is a stunning replica of the Earth measuring seven metres in diameter and featuring detailed NASA imagery of our planet's surface.

Created by visual artist Luke Jerram, the spectacle was viewed for free by thousands of visitors at the Symondsbury Estate over three days last weekend as part of the Inside Out arts festival. The exhibition was open each day at Park Copse on the estate.

The work which 'explores humanity's place on the planet and the responsibility people have towards each other', was seen by a total of around 3,670 visitors over the three days at Symondsbury.

Picture: Graham Hunt Photography

Marketing and communications manager for the event, Lucy Rouse said: "It was amazing we were really delighted with how it went.

"Gaia looked absolutely magnificent in the woodland setting and we had a lot of other outdoor performances which I think also really impressed people.

"The Gaia was shown with a soundscape which played through speakers over the exhibit and talked about the climate emergency."

Partnering with the Earth, an 'immersive poetic installation' created by Dave Young, Sophie Fretwell and sound designer Jonathon Leitch with a premise of 'if the Earth could speak, what would it say?' went ahead for the daily performances.

The biennial festival was postponed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but was able to return to venues in Weymouth, Bridport, Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch this year.

Lucy added: "We've had an overwhelmingly positive reaction from visitors who found the whole experience very enjoyable.

"It was great to see people out. We really worked against the odds to make sure it could happen - it was not without its challenges.

"We're all really thankful to the people of Bridport and anyone who came to visit for making it such a success."

On the final day of the exhibit on Sunday organisers had to make the difficult decision to close the Gaia exhibition early at 6.30pm instead of at 10pm for safety reasons after high wind speeds picked up in the afternoon.

Inside Out Dorset, is hosted by Dorchester-based outdoor arts producer Activate. Central to the programme are themes of sustainability, land use and life-cycles - both human and environmental - as well as an on-going commitment to break down barriers and open the free-to-attend festival events to the widest possible audience.