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Discosailing is a participatory art ‘action’ that was first conceived by the artist Rasheed Araeen in 1970 and has developed in the years since. Araeen describes it as “a system of sailing, or floating on water… Discosailing, performed individually or collectively involving many performers, may appear as a sport but its underlying conception is the idea of a floating sculpture or sculptures. It can also be perceived as a form of a live performance.”

On 27 July 2024, to coincide with the first day of the Paris 2024 Olympics, The Line realised the first manifestation of Discosailing to have ever been performed in the UK on the Waterworks River at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. On 27 September 2024, another six performances unfold throughout the day as nine participants float on discs and wear sails in bright colours that echo Araeen’s bold sculptures and painted works.

Like much of Araeen’s practice, Discosailing is an invitation for people to become part of his work. Through a meditative, experimental encounter, participants are invited to play with a connection between the body, object, water and space.

Katie Schwab’s artwork a cloud + a fence is a series of blue enamel shapes and painted street furniture. It marks the journey between Star Lane DLR station and Cody Dock and is a collaboration between the artist and the community. Emerging from a series of drawing, collage, block-printing and cyanotype workshops with local people, the installation references the area’s cultural, natural and industrial heritage.

The local urban landscape and its natural environment inform each of the abstract shapes. The vibrant blue echoes the natural and synthetic dyes, like blue indigo used by textile producers all along the Lower Lea throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and Meldola’s Blue, which was invented locally.

a cloud + a fence is one of three co-commissions developed by The Line in collaboration with local residents.

Madge Gill (1882-1961) is undoubtedly one of the world’s most highly regarded self-taught artists. Here you will discover a large selection of her artworks as well as an insight into the artist’s remarkable life and news of events and exhibitions.

As part of the engagement programme for Serge Attukwei Clottey’s commission Tribe and Tribulation, workshops were delivered at six primary schools in each city during Spring 2022. Around 600 children participated, using plastic rubbish and recyclable materials to create masks inspired by Clottey’s practice. On 26th May 2022, at the same time in both London and Accra, children took part in a procession to celebrate the project.

No.1104 Catching Colour by Rana Begum Courtesy Begum Studio and Kate MacGarry

Performance Dancers: Hannah Rudd & Jonathan Savage

Choreographer: Stina Quagebeur Clothing: ROKSANDA

Composer: Jeremy Birchall

Film Camera Operator & Editor: Chi Yu

Camera Assistant: Anne Mancosu

Sound Recorder: Daniel Passes

Commissioned by EcoWorld Ballymore Curated by The Line.

Produced with support from Arts Council England, this film is part of a series exploring creative careers connected to The Line with a focus on inspiring the next generation of artists, designers, performers and makers to pursue their talents.

Produced with support from Arts Council England, this film is part of a series exploring creative careers connected to The Line with a focus on inspiring the next generation of artists, designers, performers and makers to pursue their talents.

Ran as part of The Line’s ongoing initiative Visible / Invisible, our 2022 cohort of Youth Guides undertook a summer outside on the route to engage the public in conversation about works of art, providing information and sharing their ideas. Recruited through local schools and colleges, young people are offered pre-application training on CV and personal statement writing, followed by one-to-one feedback. Once selected, the group received paid training prior to starting work on The Line, which included sessions with artists Larry Achiampong and Gisela Torres as well as heritage tours on The House Mill and a session with Alice Proctor (The Exhibitionist).

We are delighted to share a specially produced film showcasing ‘Visible / Invisible’, a collaborative project bringing together The Line, the National Portrait Gallery and UAL London College of Fashion.

The programme explores themes of identity and representation in the digital and public realms and seeks to tackle the inequality of opportunity within the arts in East London for local young people. The programme has developed through school workshops – participatory image-making, critical thinking and experimentation – to inspire secondary school students to consider creative careers, as well as skills training and paid work through our Youth Guides programme to build young people’s skills and employability.

Spanning the River Lea, Helen Cammock’s On WindTides is a large-scale text installation that explores movement, migration and change. It consists of a short prose, on either side of a 60-metre cable bridge just north of Cody Dock. One side of the bridge reads ‘we fold ourselves across the tides,’ whilst the other side reads ‘from silt to land sometimes we live as wind blown sand’. The letters sit proud of the bridge, creating shadows with the movement of the sun.

The work was developed in relation to the local area, its heritage and its diverse communities. Once heavily industrial, the landscape and local ecology of the surrounding area is changing. The mint green of ‘we fold ourselves across the tides’ nods to the diverse array of plant and wildlife around the warehouses and canals. The text itself embraces the idea of waterways as connectors, using tides as a metaphor for the ways individuals, communities, neighbourhoods and landscapes change over time.

‘from silt to land sometimes we live as wind blown sand’ prompts us to reflect on how and why people move from one place to another. Like sand, which can settle in a landscape or can be blown elsewhere, we might land somewhere unexpectedly or through intent. This text references movement as a fundamental part of human existence and, with its ochre colouring, represents the shifting mixture of silt, sand and mud of the riverbed.

Tribe and Tribulation is a totemic sculpture by Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey, which stands over five metres tall. The cubes are made of reclaimed wood, including painted timber from Ghanaian fishing boats, integrating Clottey’s interest in our relationship to the ocean, migration and the afterlife of objects. In this documentary, you can find out more about Serge’s research towards the piece through his residency at Royal Museums Greenwich.

The Living Line is a site-specific commission by East London-based illustrator Somang Lee. It visualises the plants, birds and insects that can be discovered along the route of The Line, encouraging people to explore the wealth of wildlife in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and along the waterways.

Aamad is a collaborative dance project initiated by The Line that brings together English National Ballet and Akademi; fusing art, Kathak, ballet and contemporary dance.

Produced with support from Arts Council England, this film is part of a series exploring creative careers connected to The Line with a focus on inspiring the next generation of artists, designers, performers and makers to pursue their talents.