Helios at Victoria Baths

A giant Sun is rising inside one of Manchester’s most beautiful buildings. For a few weeks this spring, the emptied Gala Pool at Victoria Baths will be transformed by Helios, a monumental touring installation by Luke Jerram, which sees a glowing seven-metre sculpture of our nearest star suspended above the historic swimming pool.

The work brings astronomy down to human scale. Helios is constructed from around 400,000 high-resolution photographs of the Sun captured by astrophotographer Dr Stuart Green and NASA, compiled with guidance from solar scientist Professor Lucie Green (UCL). At a scale of roughly 1:200 million, each centimetre of the sculpture represents around 2,000 kilometres of the Sun’s surface, making its shifting details legible up close. Sunspots, filaments and other solar structures – patterns of turbulence and heat we usually only encounter via specialist imagery – are there to be inspected with the naked eye.

Light is only part of the experience, though. Helios is designed as a fusion of solar imagery, animated lighting and a specially created surround sound composition by Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson, turning the Baths into an immersive environment. The detail isn’t just beautiful, either – it connects directly to phenomena we experience on Earth. If you were lucky enough to witness the Northern Lights visible from the UK in May 2024, you were seeing the effects of solar eruptions like the ones visible on the sculpture’s surface.

Jerram is well known for these kinds of large-scale astronomical works, with other installations including Museum of the Moon, Gaia and Mars – all of which have travelled widely and shown how effectively wonder can operate as a shared public experience. Helios continues that thread, inviting audiences to consider the Sun not only as spectacle, but as the force that shapes life, light and the rhythms of our days.

At Victoria Baths, the setting adds its own drama. Suspended above the unfilled pool, the luminous sphere throws light across tiled surfaces and ironwork balconies, creating a striking encounter between scientific imagery and the ornate architecture of this Edwardian landmark. Visitors can explore beyond the Gala Pool too, with access to the wider building during their visit.

Alongside general sessions, Helios also becomes a venue for Everything Under the Sun – a programme of events and performances taking place beneath the sculpture – including a special DJ set from Daniel Avery inside the Gala Pool. Read more about that here.