By Rachael Colling BBC News Online

Sculptor Antony Gormley has unveiled his latest creation based on the plaster cast bodies of 240 volunteers at the Baltic Arts Centre in Gateshead on Thursday.

What links over 250 plastered Geordies, 300 Swedes, and a 65 foot (19.81 metre) angel?

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The sculptor Antony Gormley, of course, whose new work, Domain Field, opens to the public on Saturday.

Famous for the monumental Angel of the North, Gormley returns to the North East with a specially commissioned installation, constructed with the help of volunteers from the region.

Walking through the Domain Field is an eerie experience, as if a crowd had been suddenly vaporised, leaving only the barest trace behind.

Spiky, shimmering figures that sparkle in the light are placed randomly across the 800 square metre (956.8 square foot) floor of the gallery.

The complex statues, of all shapes and sizes, are made up of hundreds of stainless steel bars of various lengths.

Some are quite delicate, giving only the slightest hint of a person, others are stuffed full of metal.

What I think these works do is they abstract from the body the attitude that life writes a story in the language of our bodies Antony Gormley Have your say on Domain Fields

The volunteers, ranging in age from two and a half to 85 were wrapped in cling film, before being caked in plaster.

A stainless steel matrix was then welded together in each of the resulting plaster moulds.

The result is a three-dimension depiction of the volunteer in space, giving an impression of a vast energy field when you see them all together.

Gormley's new installation is exhibited with four earlier contrasting works: Allotment, Body, Fruit and Earth.

The large-scale Allotment was created five years ago, when a series of "rooms" were made for 300 volunteers from Malmo, Sweden.

Each column of reinforced concrete or "room" is the minimum space that each volunteer could occupy.

The columns are arranged on a grid in a labyrinth-like cityscape, occupying a whole gallery.

It is a powerful, solid work with tremendous presence.

Angel of the North is Gormley's most famous work

An array of imposing concrete bunkers greets you as you enter the gallery, seemingly watching your every move.

If Domain Field portrays the intrinsic energy of each person, then Allotment seems to concentrate on the body or casing.

The three remaining works, Fruit, Body and Earth are large-scale cast iron sculptures.

Huge, bulbous and rusty, they resemble ripe pieces of fruit, and have an imprint of the artist's body inside them.

All of the exhibits make you think about the depiction of people in space.

From the ethereal tracery of the virtual Domain Field to the solid concrete of Allotment, the human image is transformed.

Visit and you will be astonished by the dedication and commitment of Gormley, the team and volunteers who have created this virtual reality.