Teddington's beating heart of arts and culture, The Landmark Arts Centre, is set to play host to the world-famous Earth artwork installation Gaia, this summer.

From 16 June to 2 July, visitors will be able to marvel at Gaia for free, which will be the focal point for the first-ever Richmond Arts & Ideas Festival after its stint in Liverpool for this week's Eurovision.

Measuring seven metres in diameter and suspended inside the Landmark's stunning space, Gaia features high-resolution NASA imagery of the Earth's surface and slowly revolves as a specially composed surround sound by BAFTA award-winning composer, Dan Jones is played alongside the sculpture.

The artist behind the stunning new Earth artwork is Luke Jerram, who has created a number of extraordinary projects whilst living in the UK and internationally for the last 25 years.

Commenting on his latest project, Jerram said: "I hope visitors to Gaia get 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. Halfway through the Earth's sixth mass extinction, we urgently need to wake up, and change our behaviour. We need to quickly make the changes necessary, to prevent run away Climate Change."

The installation aims to create a sense of the 'Overview Effect,' which was first described by author Frank White in 1987. Common features of this experience for astronauts are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

Gaia in Belfast, 2019

Landmark's Visual Arts Curator, Abigail Thomas, added: "Luke Jerram's Gaia is an awe-inspiring sight; the artwork drew me in the moment I saw it and I knew we needed to exhibit it. The experience will inspire the community to respond to global issues such as climate change and environmental problems facing our beautiful blue marble of a planet, as well as simply being an inspirational sensory experience."

Tim Corum, Head of Richmond Arts Service, said: "We are really excited to be working in partnership with the Landmark Arts Centre in bringing Gaia to the borough as the centrepiece of our Richmond Arts & Ideas Festival. The Gaia art installation is awesome and will be one of the major highlights of the borough wide festival in June."

Gaia, a visual representation of the fragility and beauty of the earth, will be the 'high visibility' anchor of the Richmond Arts & Ideas festival and is hoped to act as the catalyst to spark conversation around the theme of, Together & Change; the curatorial thread which unites the programme of events taking place during the festival of dance, music, art, theatre, and conversation.

For more information on Gaia, and to book your free tickets for the installation, visit the Landmark's website here.