The Ship of Tolerance


Beautiful installation on the river Thames at Bankside created by created by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov and local school children.

The ship is made of bamboo, wood and silk with 178 canvas sails made by children in workshops and based on their discussions of diversity. It looks striking and colourful sitting in the river with great views of St Pauls behind it looking one way at Tate Modern the other way. The ship has had other iterations around the world since it first appeared in Egypt in 2008 including the 2010 Venice Biennial. 

When I was there one of the primary schools who were involved turned up to look at it and were excitedly pointing out their canvases on the information boards although I admit they were easily diverted by the bubble man nearby. I did hear one girl say to her teacher “This is the best school trip ever”. Hopefully taking part is something they will remember for a long time to come. opefully taking part if something they

Closes 6 October 2019

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