Silk River

Join Kinetika for ten–days of performative walks along the river Thames as part of Silk River.

An ambitious project exploring the unique relationship between London and Kolkata through artistic exchange between communities along the Thames Estuary and India’s Hooghly River.

A team of artists led by Kinetika’s director, Ali Pretty, have been working with communities along the way to devise a series of unique walking events that will reveal the stories of those who live and work on the river and the connections they have with parallel communities living alongside the Hooghly in West Bengal.

Each community has created a 6 metre hand-painted silk scroll that is a visual narrative of their walk. Every day a core group will welcome 2 new scrolls to be carried by participants from Kew Gardens to Southend where there will be a finale moment as we walk all 20 to the end of the mile-long pier.

The journey will be full of surprises, you can join for a morning, an afternoon, one or ten days and every day we will reveal more stories online, so you can experience and interact with us wherever you are.

Supported by Arts Council England, British Council, Dartford Council, Kent County Council, Thurrock Council, Southend Council, Royal Borough of Greenwich, Barking & Dagenham CPP, Metal, Royal Opera House Trailblazers, Thurrock, Long Distance Walkers Association London Group and Kew Gardens.