In just over three weeks' time Helston will become the epicentre of the arts world, as international artists from eight different countries show their work.

Saturday, May 5 will be the launch day for three-month-long Groundwork project - a half a million pound series of exhibitions and activities being run by the team at CAST (the Cornubian Arts and Science Trust), based in Penrose Road.

Artwork will be not only be displayed in Helston, however, but in towns and villages all over Cornwall. They include a large inflatable planetarium at Goonhilly Earth Station, where families can view images of stars, planets, and constellations until June 3.

At the same venue a commissioned science fiction film by artist couple Semi Conductor will look at Goonhilly's past and also future involvement with deep space. This will be shown alongside an existing film by Turner Prize winner Simon Starling, in hourly loops.

Three Helston Community College music students - 14-year-olds Bella and Maia and 17-year-old Nick - are the stars of a specially commissioned film by Dutch artist Manon de Boer, who captured them experimenting with sounds and rhythms in a fly-on-the-wall style piece. This will be shown at Kestle Barton, near Manaccan, until July 8.

St Keverne Band worked with Abigail Jones in 2016 and the resulting piece, The Mother's Bones, will show at the Epworth Hall on May 6 at 2pm. Shots of the band playing at Dean Quarry are interposed with crystal systems, with the band performing the score live at the special showing.

A piece by Oscar-winning film maker Steve McQueen, who directed 12 Years a Slave, will be shown in a rolling projection at the CAST building until June 3. Gravesend focuses on the ethics of mining the metallic ore coltan, used in the production of electronic devices, and claims of human rights violations in the industry.

Also in town, at Helston Museum, ongoing video work by Irish artist Sean Lynch, called What Is An Apparatus, gives a humorous look at an increasingly technocratic society, with a second film, Latoon, telling the story of the man who successfully campaigned to have a motorway redirected around a bush in Ireland where he claimed fairies met.

The King's Room at Godolphin House will display work by Christina Mackie, who is inspired with geology, linking to Godolphin's history with mining.

At Trebah Garden, Abel Rodriguez from the Colombian Amazonian rainforest will display intricate drawings of flora and fauna in the visitor centre over the bank holiday weekend. At 2pm on the Monday, Jose Roca will give a talk there about the artist.

On May 5 at 7pm, Andy Holden will explain his theories on cartoon characters such as Road Runner and Bugs Bunny and his resulting ten non-Newtonian Laws of Motion in a Cartoon Landscape, at the Academy of Music and Theatre Arts on the Penryn Campus.

All the launch events are free to attend.

At least 40 volunteers are already signed up to help at the various sites, although more are needed. To get involved visit groundwork.art/programme.