Once a Desert

Chester Cathedral is the venue for Once a Desert, a stunning large-scale video, sound and light installation created especially for this magnificent space by artists Heinrich & Palmer.

Filling the majestic interior of the cathedral with a 17.5m-high voile hanging from its vaulted ceiling, Once a Desert uses high speed film and animated point cloud imagery created from 3D laser scans of the cathedral to produce an awe-inspiring work of art accompanied by a mesmerizing soundscape.

The installation harks back to a time when the rock used to construct the Cathedral was laid down in the Triassic period, 200 million years ago, when this country was a desert lying to the south of the Sahara.

Once a Desert is an ethereal journey that celebrates the history and geology of this ancient space, revealing the cathedral as it’s never been seen before.