Plymouth is invited to step inside the sun thanks to a spectacular touring artwork called Helios now floating ethereally inside Devonport’s Market Hall.
Helios, a seven-metre inflatable sculpture by artist Luke Jerram, opens to the public on Saturday 20 September and will be free to visit until 28 September.
Ahead of its launch, the Plymouth Chronicle was given an exclusive behind-the-scenes preview, including interviews with the National Trust team behind the project.
A closer look at Helios
Helios combines thousands of high-resolution images of the sun’s surface into a giant illuminated sphere, using hot air balloon technology and an internal lightscape to bring the textures of the sun to life. Visitors can also spot a tiny model of Earth beside it, a reminder of our fragility and our connection to nature.
Tom Freshwater, Head of Visitor Programming at the National Trust, said the response to Helios on its UK tour has been one of awe:
“I think one of the things about it is you get a bit of a sense of scale, a wow to it, because it’s all about the most universal thing that there is, right? The sun, everybody gets that.
[There’s] a little scale model of the Earth here, which is very, very, very small.
And then if you place yourself in the earth in relation to the sun, you suddenly get this real sense of, how small people are in relation to all of that. And it’s so fragile as well.”
Art, nature and community
The Helios tour marks the launch of the National Trust’s 10-year strategy to inspire people about nature, culture and heritage.
Olivia Meeson, Visitor Operations & Experience Manager for Saltram, said:
“We’ve worked in partnership with Market Hall to put [Helios] here in this amazing space. And we want to make it as accessible as possible.”
Fiona Macmillan, Property Operations Manager at the National Trust, explained the reasons for the Market Hall in Devonport as its Plymouth Location:
“It’s really big. And we would have loved to have put it inside of the the house at Saltram, but it is just too big. We talked about putting it into our gardens, but it’s quite delicate…”
And it was actually an idea that, our General Manager had to bring it here.
We work with Real Ideas Organisation [and] we work across Devonport. We have some rangers that work here. So we thought actually this could be a fantastic venue to hold it…
…It’s even more accessible than it being at Saltram.”
Dates, times and events
Where: Market Hall, Devonport
When: 20–28 September
Opening hours: 10am – 4pm daily (check Market Hall website for late-night openings)
Special events: Yoga under the sun, silent disco, and more
Step into the sun
Helios is not just a sculpture it’s an awe inspiring experience. Families can relax beneath the glowing artwork on beanbags, children can play in the space, and visitors can lose themselves in the soundscape designed to capture the shifting energy of the sun.
For more information visit the National Trust Website.
