Bath Assembly Rooms is now maintained by the National Trust, and there is a current conservation and programme ongoing to open the venue as more of a tourist destination celebrating the Georgian period. At the moment, the venue is only open to events, and one of the events hosted for the majority of this month is Helios (or the sun) by Luke Jerram. The artist has showcased his Earth, moon, and Mars sculptures across the world in different venues. The sun is the most recent, and it is touring different venues across the UK for the next few months.
The Bath Assembly rooms was the location of balls and parties in th 1700s and 1800s, but the decline in this lifestyle saw the purpose of the building change to smaller and more intimate meetings for artists and writers, such as Dickens. The building was largely destroyed in an air raid in the second World War but reconstructed.
The ballroom where Jane Austen visited is now housing the display of the Helios art exhibit.
A couple of the other rooms were open, such as the octagon-shaped room.
In this room, a small model of the Earth sat on display with a notice that the sun in the ballroom is to scale with the Earth on this table. It really puts things into perspective of how large the sun is and how small we all are on this planet in the universe.
I visited Luke Jerram's other sculptures of planetary bodies over the years, but I have still not seen the moon one, which I want to see.
Earth at Canary Wharf 2023
Earth at Southwark Cathedral in 2022
Mars at the National History Museum in 2022
I also saw Luke Jerram's earlier artwork "Play Me I'm Yours" pianos, which have popped up since 2008 and are still located in various places. To see and read more about the pianos, view here: http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2012/07/street-pianos-in-london.html
Leave a comment