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I have been successful in an application to Wakefield Council for one of their Creative Commissions responding to Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon, a 7m inflatable illuminated moon that will be installed in Wakefield’s old Market Hall at the end of August.

More about Luke Jerram’s work can be found here –

Museum of the Moon

My project is to explore scale, space and our perception of comparative sizes.

This is my proposal.

‘For centuries we have tried to comprehend the scale of the solar system and have constructed many models to tackle this problem. The presentation of the Museum of the Moon in Wakefield gives us a unique opportunity to create a localised model and help us visualise the near impossible.

If the Solar System was reduced in scale so the Moon was a 7m sphere in the former Wakefield Market Hall how far away would the earth be and how big? Might it be the same size, and location, as the B&M Superstore on Ings Road? Would Mars be found within the boundary of the Wakefield District? (In fact, it would be a 13.5m object in Hunstanton) The sun would be as wide as the distance between  Wakefield Trinity Stadium and St Johns Church – and be situated in Dublin. Jupiter would be the size of 3 football fields in Verona.

Using precise maths and OS Maps I will draw the new solar system on a unique, large scale 2D map showing the positions of the planets across the UK and beyond, for display in the former Wakefield Market Hall.

I will invite people living in the new locations of the planets to send me a postcard of their place for inclusion on the map and to find, or create, an object in their area that corresponds to the new size of their respective planets.

The aim is to show the vastness of space, the distances travelled and promote a sense of perspective. As we look at the Moon will this new information make us feel more connected to both the Wakefield District and the wider world?

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