Kensington & Chelsea Festival are hosting a programme of live music events, including an evening concert in collaboration with the Ukrainian Cultural Centre. Each venue also programmes their own series of events to contemplate not just the beauty of the red planet and wonder of space science, but also to highlight injustice and the effects of war. The installation is a fusion of Mars imagery, light and surround sound composition. Featuring the sounds of seas, deserts and clips from NASA missions to Mars, it also incorporates the sounds of distant bombing and people marching, as if to war. Accompanying the Mars sculpture is a newly created sound composition by BAFTA and Ivor Novello award winning composer Dan Jones.

Mars was named by the ancient Romans for their god of war because its reddish colour was reminiscent of blood. Presented with a new soundtrack at Kensington & Chelsea Festival from 22 July – 12 August 2023, in the context of St John the Baptist Church Church, a space to encourage peaceful contemplation, Mars: War & Peace provides an opportunity for the public to consider the history of human conflict around the world. Visitors will feel transported to the inhospitable desert wasteland of Mars, whilst also reflecting on the realities of war for ordinary communities of people on our planet. Mars: War & Peace follows on from Luke’s other astronomical artworks Museum of the Moon and Gaia.

War and Peace instaling