This mesmerising mirror ball, hanging from the ceiling at Somerset House, consists of 9,000 tiny images of nearly every solar eclipse that has been documented by humankind – including the oldest solar eclipse drawings from centuries ago and the first Victorian photographs, right up to modern-day amateur Flikr snaps. The mirrorball slowly spins on its axis, dispersing dots of reflected light around the room.

millimetre was commissioned to work out how to produce the 820mm-diameter sphere so that each of the 9,000 printed tiles would sit flush on the surface of the ball. The sphere was made from high density foam and 5 axis CNC routed into the exact shape. Then 9,000 recesses were cut out, to house the printed mirror tiles. It took 100 hours to glue in all of the tiles.

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Katie Paterson

Photography: © Katie Paterson