Mars at Colchester Castle

You’ve wondered at Gaia, now it’s time to have a close encounter with Mars.

We are thrilled to announce that the touring artwork Mars by Luke Jerram will be at Colchester Castle from 20 March to 9 May 2025. This follows Gaia, whose run was extended due to phenomenal demand.

This new artwork will allow visitors to the Castle to view Mars from the air, as though they are a satellite mapping and studying the surface in perfect detail. Every valley, crater, volcano, and mountain is laid bare for visitors to inspect. Prepare to be transported to this desert wasteland and imagine what it’s like to step foot on this incredible planet that’s almost half the size of Earth.

The artwork measures six metres in diameter and features 120 dpi detailed NASA imagery* of the Martian surface. At just over one million times smaller, each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture represents 11 kilometres of the surface of Mars.

Luke Jerram said, “Mars follows on from my other touring astronomical artworks, Museum of the Moon and Gaia, and allows a close encounter with the Martian planet. I hope that visitors will feel transported to its inhospitable desert wasteland and, in comparison, really value our life on Earth.”

The installation is a fusion of Mars imagery, light and surround sound composition created by BAFTA and Ivor Novello award-winning composer Dan Jones.

*The Mars artwork is made from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data.