The disused coaling jetty on the Thames has been converted into a new outdoor venue, The Jetty, as part of a wider Greenwich Peninsula culture and placemaking strategy. Shunt, an arts collective with a reputation for creating unusual live performance in unusual places, was commissioned to create a new immersive experience which required audiences to go barefoot on a strange, multi-sensory journey inside specially designed shipping containers. The Jetty also hosted live music, a pop-up bar serving street food and cocktails.
The sold-out event – loosely based on the classic novels ‘Heart of Darkness’ and ‘The Water Babies’ – had a six-week run during late Summer 2014 and was listed as both Critic’s Choice and one of Time Out’s Top Ten Things To Do in August. This was the first outdoor performance by Shunt whose work in the last decade includes The Architects, Money, Tropicana and the shunt lounge. A temporary performance space was built out of shipping containers which also hosted a bar, food and an accompanying programme of live music and entertainment.
Futurecity brokered and developed this cultural partnership as part of the placemaking work for Knight Dragon, identifying the former Coaling Jetty as an ideal location for a new permanent cultural venue – which is currently still in development – and recommended a programme of pop-up events on the disused structure in the interim period until the building is constructed. ‘The Boy Who Climbed Out of His Face’ launched a series of events on The Jetty which will be curated by Knight Dragon’s Kaia Charles.
https://www.shunt.co.uk
http://jetty.greenwichpeninsula.co.uk/
