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Gaia is a permanent artwork in the atrium at UCL East Marshgate and the inspiration for a public programme of events centered around our place on this planet, and our collective need to protect it.
- Find out more about Gaia...
1.8 million times smaller than the real Earth, Gaia is a permanently installed artwork which embodies UCL as London’s Global University and is located in the atrium at UCL East Marshgate. Artist Luke Jerram designed Gaia for people to ‘see the Earth as if from space; an incredibly beautiful and precious place. An ecosystem we urgently need to look after – our only home’. Creating a sense of the ‘Overview Effect’, first described by author Frank White in 1987, the experience includes a feeling of awe and renewed sense of responsibility for the planet, as well as a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life.
Inspiring a new public programme at UCL East, Gaia acts as a visual reminder of our place on this planet, and our collective need to protect it.
Programme of events
Launched in September 2023, the Gaia Public Programme is a cultural programme of performances, talks and specially-commissioned arts projects which interrogate the many challenges that our planet and humanity faces, while celebrating the potential for future living.
Drawing on themes including the impact of climate change, mass migration, technological advancements such as AI, sustainability and community action, the programme brings together artists, communities and UCL East’s research, in an accessible arts-led public programme.
Find out below about our upcoming events and look back on some of our past events.
Earth Day 2024
TELLUS MATER
photo: Leah Lovett
The Earth Makes No Sound
photo: Kristan Lam Clark
Sing to Gaia, BBC Singers
photo: BBC/Mark Allen
Past events
Schools Poetry Sharing Day
June 2024 - This event provided a fantastic opportunity for students from two east London schools to share their poems, showcase their talents, and connect with fellow poetry enthusiasts. With support from acclaimed poet Anneliese Amoah, the students wrote poems inspired by UCL's innovative climate research and Luke Jerram's Gaia art instillation.
Earth Day 2024 at UCL East
April 2024 - UCL East celebrated Earth Day 2024 with a series of events for local schools and the public, considering this year's theme of Planet vs Plastics.
TELLUS MATER: Interacting with the spirit of earth
November 2023 - TELLUS MATER was an interactive installation utilising recent developments in natural language processing and artificial intelligence, enabling audiences to talk to Mother Earth. The work was created by Professor Andrew Hudson-Smith and Dr Leah Lovett of the Connected Environments Lab, UCL East, as part of The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA).
Earth Makes No Sound at UCL East
October 2023 - Performances of Earth Makes No Sound, an ever-evolving choral work inspired by the elements and changes happening to our planet, filled the atrium, lit by the glow of Gaia. Created by Filament Theatre, the performances featured a cast of company professionals with community singers from East London.
East London schools and BBC singers celebrate planet earth
October 2023 - One hundred school children from Bobby Moore Primary and Secondary Academy, Hillyfield Primary Academy and St Winefride’s Catholic Primary School in East London performed with the BBC Singers, in a musical programme, Earth, Air and Moon, and broadcast on Radio 3.