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Our Place in Space
April - October 2022
An astonishing journey through our solar system – an epic sculpture trail, interactive AR app and more that explore what it means to live life on Earth.
A delightful blend of art and science that brings new perspectives on the universe and our place in it
Track your steps through the solar system, collect space souvenirs and upload a star to the Universe of Us
Us and them – together?
Our Place in Space brings our solar system down to Earth – and sends us soaring into the stars to find new perspectives on our planet.
Our Place in Space ensures you’ll never look at our solar system in the same way again. If we could look back at Earth from the vastness of space, what would we feel? Wouldn’t squabbles look stupid from Saturn? Wouldn’t violence seem senseless from Venus? Forget about ‘us’ and ‘them’ – from the perspective of Pluto, it’s all just us.
Oliver Jeffers and Professor Stephen Smartt have created an epic-scale model of the solar system, a 10-kilometre sculpture trail that drew more than one million people to Belfast, Cambridge, Derry–Londonderry and Liverpool in 2022 – and is now set to be installed at Ulster Transport Museum and North Down Coastal Path in early 2023. Can’t make it? You can explore Our Place in Space from anywhere in the solar system through the free interactive augmented-reality app, available for iOS and Android – and a new Minecraft Education adventure.
Our Place in Space is created by a team led by the Nerve Centre, Northern Ireland’s leading creative media arts centre, and includes artists Oliver Jeffers and Die Hexen, Professor Stephen Smartt from the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast, National Museums NI, NI Science Festival, Big Motive, Taunt, Microsoft, Jeffers & Sons, University of Cambridge, Dumbworld, Live Music Now, Little Inventors and Urban Scale Interventions.
Our Place in Space is commissioned by Belfast City Council, with location partners including Derry City & Strabane District Council, the National Trust, Cambridge City Council and Ards & North Down Borough Council.
When and where
After visiting Belfast (Divis and the Black Mountain), Cambridge, Derry–Londonderry and Liverpool between April and November 2022, the Our Place in Space sculpture trail will be installed from 24 February to 26 March 2023 at Ulster Transport Museum and North Down Coastal Path. The trail will then continue to be able to be experienced from the Sun to Mars as a permanent fixture on the museum’s grounds.
Experience online
Our experience was incredibly positive. It made me consider how other cultural events and installations could benefit from being more inclusive and enriching for people with SEN.
— Dan Byrne, SEN teacher