Float: Fran Cottell

A group of local artists have been doing a series of performances on or at the old barge loading quay on the left-bank of the Thames below Canary Wharf. During lockdown, Fran Cottell installed a series of inflateable rings suspended just above high water mark.

At low-tide the space is a ‘beach’ of sand, shingle, rocks, rubbish and concrete, very often actually used as beach for sun-bathing by local residents. It is bordered at the low-water mark by a wall of huge timbers which give access via what was once a set of steps to a slightly raised area on which incoming barges were hauled up to load and unload, carrying their freight to and from the larger ships at Tilbury.

The space has been used for impromptu performances (on a monthly-basis) for over a year but Lockdown has for the moment made this rather difficult. Fran Cottell’s installation is a wry attempt to capture the absence of people in a space once so busy and industrious, more recently relaxed and now empty. The river has not yet dried up, but our sense of it has become detached.

The installation was made by Fran Cottell, with some technical assistance from Patrick Semple using high-tensile fishing wire, very early one Sunday morning.