WE wouldn’t exist without the sun – but how much do most of us know about it? Installation artist Luke Jerram asks visitors to come and discover the bright star that gives us light and life in his new touring project, Helios, which will be at Dorchester Corn Exchange until Monday 6th April.

Helios, like Luke’s previous projects, including Museum of the Moon and Gaia, is an immersive art installation named after the ancient Greek mythological god. Personifying the sun, Helios will bring some much-needed sunshine to Dorchester, with a fusion of solar imagery, sunlight and a specially created surround-sound composition.

Measuring seven metres in diameter, the artwork features 72dpi detailed imagery of the sun’s surface. At an approximate scale of 1:200 million, each centimetre of the internally lit spherical artwork represents 2000km of the sun’s surface. The installation is a fusion of solar imagery, sunlight and a specially created the sound-scape by Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson.

At Dorchester, where the visit is presented by Dorchester Arts, admission is free between 10am and 4pm, and there is also a programme of events, including Music under the Sun on Saturday 28th, drawing, sensory and movement sessions, a gala fundraising event, An Evening Under the Sun, on Wednesday 1st April, and
Scripts in Hand, script in-hand performances inspired by Helios, at the Corn Exchange on Thursday 2nd April from 7.30pm.

Helios is currently on a lengthy national tour, to venues including Fountains Abbey and Liverpool Cathedral.