Luke Jerram’s large-scale earth installation – Gaia has arrived at Kensington and Chelsea Festival and will be on display at three locations across the borough until Sunday 14th August.
Gaia follows the hugely successful appearance of Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon installation at the 2021 edition of Kensington and Chelsea Festival, attracting more than 18,000 visitors. Check out our reel here.
Measuring seven metres in diameter, Gaia features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface. The installation aims to inspire a feeling of wonder at the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.
A number of shows in Kensington and Chelsea Festival’s free Outdoor Arts programme (suitable for all ages) also explore climate change and our relationship with the natural world, including WILD presented in Jubilee Square by Motionhouse, combining dynamic dance and acrobatic movement. In Kensington Memorial Park Timeless by performance company Joli Vyann presents a physical narrative of climate change and its consequences, fusing circus, theatre and dance. In the same location, physical theatre company Theatre Témoin presents FLOOD, a new, interactive outdoor spectacle, highlighting the health of the world’s ocean through the eyes of Britain’s coastal communities.
Much of the programme has been curated with families and children in mind, from SEED by ambitious outdoor theatre company Pif-Paf, a highly visual hitch-hike on the journey from small Acorns to great Oak Trees; to family circus workshops with leading contemporary circus company Upswing and the entire pop-up arts programme in the borough’s public spaces. The Place presents the album: skool edition By SAY celebrating the joy and innocence of making up dances to exciting new music in this interactive, outdoor dance show created specifically for kids and their families. Meanwhile at The Playground Theatre families can explore the photographic exhibition of photos taken by local 10-16-year-olds, as well as My Yard, a semi-interactive play centred around a core group of young people reminiscing.
With the school holidays here and children to entertain for six whole weeks – the Kensington and Chelsea Festival’s free Outdoor Arts programme is a welcome adition to London’s thriving family friendly fun. From Duke of York’s Square in the east to Finborough Theatre in the west, Kensington Memorial Park in the north and World’s End Place in the south, the Kensington and Chelsea Festival brings all corners of the borough to life with 60+ events throughout July and August. More than half of the programming is either Free or Pay What You Want and concession tickets are available for all shows presented in theatres and established venues.
Please find full details on Gaia and the Outdoor Arts programme at www.kcfestival.co.uk