‘Mars: War & Peace’ at Kensington And Chelsea Festival

Touring artwork ‘Mars: War & Peace’ by UK artist Luke Jerram has launched at the Kensington & Chelsea Festival in 2023.

Walking into St John the Baptist Church and seeing a large illuminated artwork has you pausing at the door to take it all in. The artwork is a fusion of Mars imagery, light and surround sound composition. Viewing the artwork might be the closest most of us will come to Mars. Every detail is shown from the volleys to craters, volcanoes to mountains. Its 7meters in diameter, features 120dpi detailed NSA imagery and at an approximate scale of 1:1 million, each centimetre represents 10 kilometres of the surface of Mars.

BAFTA and Ivor Novello award winning composer Dan Jones has composed a soundscape that accompanies the artwork. Sea, desert and missions to Mars sounds are played, alongside distant bombings and people marching, as if to war. This serves to remind us that the planet was named for the ancient Roman’s god of war as its reddish colour was reminiscent of blood. The soundscape aims to allow viewers to reflect on war. This new soundscape has been composed especially for the festival, which sees ‘Mars: War and Peace’ been installed in a church for the first time.

Three locations will host the installation:

St John the Baptist Church (W14 8AH) from Saturday 22 to Sunday 30 July 2023
All Saints’ Church (W11 1JS) from Monday 31 July to Tuesday 8 August
Jubilee Square (W8 7NX) – an outdoor setting on from Thursday 10 August to Sunday 13 August

Each venue has its own program of events to help viewers to contemplate the planets, space, science, injustice and war. St John’s will play host to a concert series with orchestras performing from 22nd-30th, with a sold-out lunchtime concert of Holst’s Planets on 22nd.

At St John the Baptist Church last night, a capella group Vocal Shack performed. Singing ‘Over the Rainbow’ as they were standing under Mars and looking up at this planet, really did make us think how much in space is still unexplored, then they had the audience signing along to ‘Ain’t no bossy (loves me better’).

Luke Jerram’s previous works at the Kensington and Chelsea Festival have each attracted up to 3,000 visitors per day. His other astronomical artworks include ‘Museum of the Moon’ and ‘Gaia’. The Kensington and Chelsea Festival is in its third a year and runs from 1st July to 31st August. It will host theatre, circus, opera, dance, music, outdoor arts, family shows, participatory activities, talks, walks and public art pieces with the aim of celebrating culture and creativity.

Website: https://www.kcfestival.co.uk

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kcfestivaluk

https://instagram.com/stjohnthebaptistw14

https://instagram.com/lukejerramartist

hashtags: #MarsWarAndPeace #KCFestival23

Written by Caitlin Neal