READING Climate Festival has officially begun as the Gaia Exhibition takes pride of place in the Concert Hall in the town centre.
Members of Reading Borough Council were joined by representatives from Reading Business Improvement District (BID), Reading’s Economic and Destination Agency (REDA), and Professor Ed Hawkins when the exhibit was finally unveiled on Friday, June 9.
Luke Jerram’s artwork features a globe constructed with the use of high-resolution NASA imagery, totalling around seven metres in diameter.
It also includes a bespoke, surround-sound composition by BAFTA award-winning composer Dan Jones, creating an immersive experience.
It has been described as the centrepiece of the festival by Tracey Rawling Church, co-chair of Reading Climate Change Partnership, with a range of debates, activities, and events taking place throughout the town.
Professor Ed Hawkins, whose work at the University of Reading has included the creation of the now world-famous Climate Stripes, said: “It’s just incredible to see the Earth hanging there in space.
“You see all the amazing complexity in the clouds, the blue ocean, the amazing colours on the land– it’s extraordinary.
“There’s a lot of science going on in this exhibit, we’ve spent many years trying to understand that, but it’s also amazingly beautiful at the same time.”
Professor Hawkins’ Climate Stripes have come to exemplify the power of artistic visualisation of scientific understanding, particularly in climate research.
Of the stripes, he said: “The power is in the simplicity, the starkness of the changes in colour, which starts that conversation and draws people in, rather than being just a lecture.
“Climate studies can feel pretty remote, sometimes– a big global thing which we all talk about– but it affects us here and now.
“This kind of exhibit brings it home and makes you realise the amazing things going on on our planet.”
Reading Borough Council leader Cllr Jason Brock said: “It’s amazing to be here and to see it in the beautiful setting of a concert hall and it’s certainly far more impressive than the globes we had at school.
“I hope that it’s a good opportunity to precipitate a conversation among people in Reading as they come to visit– it’s already been tremendously popular and so many tickets have been sold.”
“On the one hand,” he explained, “we discuss often the science around climate change and it’s part of our policy-making here at the council.
“But actually being able to project something in an artistic way helps to make it more engaging and more comprehensible to different audiences.
“It’s important that we find different ways to have those conversations so we can engage with everyone in our community– it’s never going to be sufficient if we just reel off the list of facts.
“So I think it’s a wonderful piece sitting at that nexus point between art and science when it comes to questions about the climate.”
Alexa Volker, manager of the Reading Central and Abbey Quarter Business Improvement Districts, said that being in the room with the exhibition: “Is more inspiring than I could have imagined– it’s beautiful.
“The BID is here to make Reading a place where people want to come and live and work and play and all of the businesses in the town centre contribute to having something like this here, along with the university and the council.
“Coming from Africa, which was right in front of me on the exhibit as I entered the room– I can see how far away from there I am, and I think a lot of people will feel the same when they see it.”
She continued: “We have a strong cultural heritage as well as the university’s efforts, showing that scientific data can be made beautiful, as Professor Hawkins did with the climate stripes.
“It shows that art and science can sit together so beautifully.”
Nigel Horton-Baker, chief executive of Reading’s Economy and Destination Agency, said of the exhibit: “We’re seeing the world as the astronauts see it.
“This exhibit has been all over the world, and it shows that Reading is a global destination which welcomes people from around the planet to live, work, and visit.
“People come here to go to university and educate themselves as well as enjoy the arts, heritage and culture here.
“I think it is going to help us keep going with our aspirations for Reading’s vision to be a smart and sustainable place with our 2050 City Vision.”
He explained: “We’re going to have the biggest concentration of climate scientists in the world based on Reading University, mapping the world’s climate.
“And then just down the road or the cost of the creative side, we’ve got shinfield studios, new film studios being set up, which will be as big as Pinewood.
“So we’re seeing here in Reading how the creative meets the scientific and it’s amazing.”
The Gaia installation will be open to visitors in the Town Hall from Saturday-Sunday, June 10-18.
The festival will culminate in a climate parade through Reading’s town centre on Saturday, June 17, before Show Your Stripes Day on June 21.
Reading Climate Festival takes place between Saturday, June 10, and Friday, June 21st.
Full details of all of the events and how to book tickets are available via: whatsonreading.com/reading-climate-festival-and-gaia
