BELONGING: Showcasing three of London Festival of Architecture’s Neighbourhoods Chrisp Street/Poplar, Fitzrovia and Leamouth
Location: SS Robin and supporting Pontoon, Trinity Buoy Wharf, 64 Orchard Place, Poplar, London, E14 0JW. DOWNLOAD MAP BELONGING MAP
Nearest stations: Canning Town via the red bridge/City Island or East India DLR
Nearest parking: free after 5pm weekdays and all day weekends on nearby Aberfeldy estate
ACCESS INFORMATION
Please note that SS Robin and the pontoon are not step-free as access is via a gangway that may be steep depending on the tide. Seating will be available and an accessible WC is located on site at other side of the Orchard Cafe. If you have specific access requirements, please get in touch in advance so we can support your visit.
Launch event: Thursday 25 June 2026 from 3pm-7pm RSVP: HERE
- GLASS DISC CASTING (NO BOOKING REQUIRED) in front of propeller of SS Robin on top of pontoon
- TALKAOKE (NO BOOKING REQUIRED) Situated on wharfside by SS Robin https://talkaoke.com/
- LOCATIONS IN TRANSITION RETROSPECTIVE (FREE) Exhibition inside pontoon supporting SS Robin
Responding to the London Festival of Architecture 2026 theme, Belonging celebrates the culmination of our current National Lottery Heritage Fund three-year programme, as well as showcasing the impact of our public engagement in east London and northeast England over the last decade and a half. Outputs include a large chandelier made with Sixth Form students in Newcastle, Lego constructions co-created with residents of Poplar from street installations by New York based artist Jaye Moon and contemporary responses to Victorian photographic processes led by Jonathan Turner and Adam French. Outcomes featured are the educational foundation that came out of the Tommy Flowers community pub, cited at the House of Lords as “a new model of creative community engagement” and the long-empty Post Office next door that we developed into Making Space, that acted as a springboard for testing out new ideas, including two works that travelled to Venice for the Art Biennale and Film Festival 2022. After six years utilising spaces on the Aberfeldy estate, meanwhile, we returned to Trinity Buoy Wharf, where we had run an artists’ residency programme from 2011-17, now being given access to use SS Robin and its supporting Pontoon for events, exhibitions and experimentation, including visual and sonic works. An early intervention revisited here is a large pinhole image of the Post Office Tower, created within a former advertising agency in Fitzrovia, the neighbourhood where our CIC was founded, and continues to engage with local residents, working from the historic TJ Boulting building on Riding House Street, right opposite the Middlesex Hospital site where we did our first public engagement in 2008. Fitzrovia and the West End are also the focus of Robert Elms’ talk on Belonging and Ken Worpole’s walk looking at the Bohemian migration to the East End in the post-war period, that begins at the nine storey chihuahua mural on Chrisp Street. Iain Sinclair’s specially prepared presentation includes Poplar, Canning Town and the Lower Lea, incorporating the target Neighbourhoods of this year’s London Festival of Architecture.
PONTOON EXHIBITION (FREE, NO BOOKING REQUIRED)
Friday 26 June – 11am–5pm
Saturday 27 June – 11am–1:30pm – Until ticketed talk, see below
Sunday 28 June – 11am–1:30pm – Until ticketed talk see, below
GLASSBLOWING LEARNING SESSIONS (BOOKING REQUIRED) Situated in front of propeller of SS Robin on top of pontoon. https://www.instagram.com/workinglass/
Friday 26 June 2026
11am–1pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
1:30pm–3:30pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
4pm–5pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
Saturday 27 June 2026
11am–1pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
1:30pm–3:30pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
4pm–5pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
WALKING TOUR OF POPLAR
Led by eminent social historian and writer Ken Worpole http://worpole.net/
Saturday 27 June 2026
2:30pm – 4pm Book HERE
Meeting Point: Under the chihuahua mural, opposite All Saints DLR station.
NOTE: Due to this tour selling out in less than 12 hours, a second tour is being organised for September.
See: https://www.sohemiansociety.com/
TALKS ON THE THEME OF BELONGING
Q&A with popular broadcaster and chronicler of London culture, Robert Elms, in conversation with author and journalist Keiron Pim on ideas around the meaning of belonging:
Saturday 27 June 2026
Door time: 2:00pm, start time: 2:30pm — Book HERE
Presentation by leading writer, film-maker and poet Iain Sinclair, on the theme of belonging:
Sunday 28 June 2026
Door time: 1:30pm, start time: 2:00pm — Book HERE
WORKSHOPS | ACCIDENTAL LANDMARKS: REMAPPING LONDON TOGETHER
Host: Jackson Fowst
Friday 26 June from 12pm -2pm and 5pm -7pm — Book HERE from Monday 1st of June
Accidental Landmarks: Remapping London Together is a participatory exhibition and workshop series exploring the theme of BELONGING through the concept of ‘accidental landmarks’—the everyday, often overlooked spaces that communities transform through spontaneous use into places of meaning and connection. An open call invites participants to contribute photographs, objects, drawings, sound, film, or written reflections capturing London spaces that have become meaningful without formal recognition. These contributions will be developed further through a series of workshops, where participants are encouraged to reflect, share, and map their experiences. The project also prioritises sustainability, using low-impact, reusable materials and encouraging participants to bring existing items rather than create new ones. The project culminates in a collective multimedia installation—a reimagined map of London built from these contributions—revealing the city’s “accidental landmarks” and prompting reflection on who defines heritage, significance, and belonging in urban space.
WORKSHOPS | MAPPING BELONGING: BODY AND PLACE
Host: Elyssa Sykes-Smith
Saturday 27 June 2026 from 10am–12pm — Book HERE from Monday 1st of June
Workshops are open to all, with no prior knowledge required. Participants can contribute in a variety of ways—verbally, visually, or in writing—and are welcome to take part anonymously if preferred. The programme is designed to be inclusive, encouraging diverse perspectives shaped by migration, race, class, disability, and everyday life.
Saturday 27 June 2026 from 12pm–2pm — Drop-in workshop no booking required
What does belonging feel like in your body? Join these hands-on workshops at Trinity Buoy Wharf to map your connection to place through drawing, colour and shared creative making. These participatory workshops explore how a sense of belonging is experienced, embodied and expressed through body mapping, as a creative and reflective process. In the 2-hour workshop, participants will begin with a small drawing on paper before developing an individual life-sized body map on fabric: through guided prompts, participants will explore where they feel a sense of belonging, how that feeling is experienced in the body, and how it can be expressed through colour, words and imagery. No experience needed—just curiosity. All materials provided: print-outs, plain paper, fabric, tracing paper, pens, pencils, highlighters and tape.
What is body mapping?
“Body mapping involves tracing around a person’s body to create a life-sized outline. This outline is then drawn, painted, and written upon in a contemplative and creative process that assists the maker in reflecting upon, and expressing, their personal and embodied life experiences.”
— Dr Katherine Boydell, Black Dog Institute
The 2-hour drop-in session offers a more flexible way to take part. Participants can create a small individual body map or contribute to a shared, large-scale artwork, bringing together multiple experiences of belonging.
Participants: No experience needed—just curiosity
Disciplines: Drawing, body mapping, diagramming, writing
Please note that SS Robin and the pontoon are not step-free, as access is via a gangway that may be steep depending on the tide. Seating will be available and an accessible WC is located on site at other side of the Orchard Cafe. If you have specific access requirements, please get in touch in advance so we can support your visit.

BELONGING is supported by

BELONGING: Showcasing three of London Festival of Architecture’s Neighbourhoods Chrisp Street/Poplar, Fitzrovia and Leamouth
Location: SS Robin and supporting Pontoon, Trinity Buoy Wharf, 64 Orchard Place, Poplar, London, E14 0JW. DOWNLOAD MAP BELONGING MAP
Nearest stations: Canning Town via the red bridge/City Island or East India DLR
Nearest parking: free after 5pm weekdays and all day weekends on nearby Aberfeldy estate
ACCESS INFORMATION
Please note that SS Robin and the pontoon are not step-free as access is via a gangway that may be steep depending on the tide. Seating will be available and an accessible WC is located on site at other side of the Orchard Cafe. If you have specific access requirements, please get in touch in advance so we can support your visit.
Launch event: Thursday 25 June 2026 from 3pm-7pm RSVP: HERE
- GLASS DISC CASTING (NO BOOKING REQUIRED) in front of propeller of SS Robin on top of pontoon
- TALKAOKE (NO BOOKING REQUIRED) Situated on wharfside by SS Robin https://talkaoke.com/
- LOCATIONS IN TRANSITION RETROSPECTIVE (FREE) Exhibition inside pontoon supporting SS Robin
Responding to the London Festival of Architecture 2026 theme, Belonging celebrates the culmination of our current National Lottery Heritage Fund three-year programme, as well as showcasing the impact of our public engagement in east London and northeast England over the last decade and a half. Outputs include a large chandelier made with Sixth Form students in Newcastle, Lego constructions co-created with residents of Poplar from street installations by New York based artist Jaye Moon and contemporary responses to Victorian photographic processes led by Jonathan Turner and Adam French. Outcomes featured are the educational foundation that came out of the Tommy Flowers community pub, cited at the House of Lords as “a new model of creative community engagement” and the long-empty Post Office next door that we developed into Making Space, that acted as a springboard for testing out new ideas, including two works that travelled to Venice for the Art Biennale and Film Festival 2022. After six years utilising spaces on the Aberfeldy estate, meanwhile, we returned to Trinity Buoy Wharf, where we had run an artists’ residency programme from 2011-17, now being given access to use SS Robin and its supporting Pontoon for events, exhibitions and experimentation, including visual and sonic works. An early intervention revisited here is a large pinhole image of the Post Office Tower, created within a former advertising agency in Fitzrovia, the neighbourhood where our CIC was founded, and continues to engage with local residents, working from the historic TJ Boulting building on Riding House Street, right opposite the Middlesex Hospital site where we did our first public engagement in 2008. Fitzrovia and the West End are also the focus of Robert Elms’ talk on Belonging and Ken Worpole’s walk looking at the Bohemian migration to the East End in the post-war period, that begins at the nine storey chihuahua mural on Chrisp Street. Iain Sinclair’s specially prepared presentation includes Poplar, Canning Town and the Lower Lea, incorporating the target Neighbourhoods of this year’s London Festival of Architecture.
PONTOON EXHIBITION (FREE, NO BOOKING REQUIRED)
Friday 26 June – 11am–5pm
Saturday 27 June – 11am–1:30pm – Until ticketed talk, see below
Sunday 28 June – 11am–1:30pm – Until ticketed talk see, below
GLASSBLOWING LEARNING SESSIONS (BOOKING REQUIRED) Situated in front of propeller of SS Robin on top of pontoon. https://www.instagram.com/workinglass/
Friday 26 June 2026
11am–1pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
1:30pm–3:30pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
4pm–5pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
Saturday 27 June 2026
11am–1pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
1:30pm–3:30pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
4pm–5pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
WALKING TOUR OF POPLAR
Led by eminent social historian and writer Ken Worpole http://worpole.net/
Saturday 27 June 2026
2:30pm – 4pm Book HERE
Meeting Point: Under the chihuahua mural, opposite All Saints DLR station.
NOTE: Due to this tour selling out in less than 12 hours, a second tour is being organised for September.
See: https://www.sohemiansociety.com/
TALKS ON THE THEME OF BELONGING
Q&A with popular broadcaster and chronicler of London culture, Robert Elms, in conversation with author and journalist Keiron Pim on ideas around the meaning of belonging:
Saturday 27 June 2026
Door time: 2:00pm, start time: 2:30pm — Book HERE
Presentation by leading writer, film-maker and poet Iain Sinclair, on the theme of belonging:
Sunday 28 June 2026
Door time: 1:30pm, start time: 2:00pm — Book HERE
WORKSHOPS | ACCIDENTAL LANDMARKS: REMAPPING LONDON TOGETHER
Host: Jackson Fowst
Friday 26 June from 12pm -2pm and 5pm -7pm — Book HERE from Monday 1st of June
Accidental Landmarks: Remapping London Together is a participatory exhibition and workshop series exploring the theme of BELONGING through the concept of ‘accidental landmarks’—the everyday, often overlooked spaces that communities transform through spontaneous use into places of meaning and connection. An open call invites participants to contribute photographs, objects, drawings, sound, film, or written reflections capturing London spaces that have become meaningful without formal recognition. These contributions will be developed further through a series of workshops, where participants are encouraged to reflect, share, and map their experiences. The project also prioritises sustainability, using low-impact, reusable materials and encouraging participants to bring existing items rather than create new ones. The project culminates in a collective multimedia installation—a reimagined map of London built from these contributions—revealing the city’s “accidental landmarks” and prompting reflection on who defines heritage, significance, and belonging in urban space.
WORKSHOPS | MAPPING BELONGING: BODY AND PLACE
Host: Elyssa Sykes-Smith
Saturday 27 June 2026 from 10am–12pm — Book HERE from Monday 1st of June
Workshops are open to all, with no prior knowledge required. Participants can contribute in a variety of ways—verbally, visually, or in writing—and are welcome to take part anonymously if preferred. The programme is designed to be inclusive, encouraging diverse perspectives shaped by migration, race, class, disability, and everyday life.
Saturday 27 June 2026 from 12pm–2pm — Drop-in workshop no booking required
What does belonging feel like in your body? Join these hands-on workshops at Trinity Buoy Wharf to map your connection to place through drawing, colour and shared creative making. These participatory workshops explore how a sense of belonging is experienced, embodied and expressed through body mapping, as a creative and reflective process. In the 2-hour workshop, participants will begin with a small drawing on paper before developing an individual life-sized body map on fabric: through guided prompts, participants will explore where they feel a sense of belonging, how that feeling is experienced in the body, and how it can be expressed through colour, words and imagery. No experience needed—just curiosity. All materials provided: print-outs, plain paper, fabric, tracing paper, pens, pencils, highlighters and tape.
What is body mapping?
“Body mapping involves tracing around a person’s body to create a life-sized outline. This outline is then drawn, painted, and written upon in a contemplative and creative process that assists the maker in reflecting upon, and expressing, their personal and embodied life experiences.”
— Dr Katherine Boydell, Black Dog Institute
The 2-hour drop-in session offers a more flexible way to take part. Participants can create a small individual body map or contribute to a shared, large-scale artwork, bringing together multiple experiences of belonging.
Participants: No experience needed—just curiosity
Disciplines: Drawing, body mapping, diagramming, writing
Please note that SS Robin and the pontoon are not step-free, as access is via a gangway that may be steep depending on the tide. Seating will be available and an accessible WC is located on site at other side of the Orchard Cafe. If you have specific access requirements, please get in touch in advance so we can support your visit.
BELONGING is supported by


BELONGING: Showcasing three of London Festival of Architecture’s Neighbourhoods Chrisp Street/Poplar, Fitzrovia and Leamouth
Location: SS Robin and supporting Pontoon, Trinity Buoy Wharf, 64 Orchard Place, Poplar, London, E14 0JW. DOWNLOAD MAP BELONGING MAP
Nearest stations: Canning Town via the red bridge/City Island or East India DLR
Nearest parking: free after 5pm weekdays and all day weekends on nearby Aberfeldy estate
ACCESS INFORMATION
Please note that SS Robin and the pontoon are not step-free as access is via a gangway that may be steep depending on the tide. Seating will be available and an accessible WC is located on site at other side of the Orchard Cafe. If you have specific access requirements, please get in touch in advance so we can support your visit.
Launch event: Thursday 25 June 2026 from 3pm-7pm RSVP: HERE
- GLASS DISC CASTING (NO BOOKING REQUIRED) in front of propeller of SS Robin on top of pontoon
- TALKAOKE (NO BOOKING REQUIRED) Situated on wharfside by SS Robin https://talkaoke.com/
- LOCATIONS IN TRANSITION RETROSPECTIVE (FREE) Exhibition inside pontoon supporting SS Robin
Responding to the London Festival of Architecture 2026 theme, Belonging celebrates the culmination of our current National Lottery Heritage Fund three-year programme, as well as showcasing the impact of our public engagement in east London and northeast England over the last decade and a half. Outputs include a large chandelier made with Sixth Form students in Newcastle, Lego constructions co-created with residents of Poplar from street installations by New York based artist Jaye Moon and contemporary responses to Victorian photographic processes led by Jonathan Turner and Adam French. Outcomes featured are the educational foundation that came out of the Tommy Flowers community pub, cited at the House of Lords as “a new model of creative community engagement” and the long-empty Post Office next door that we developed into Making Space, that acted as a springboard for testing out new ideas, including two works that travelled to Venice for the Art Biennale and Film Festival 2022. After six years utilising spaces on the Aberfeldy estate, meanwhile, we returned to Trinity Buoy Wharf, where we had run an artists’ residency programme from 2011-17, now being given access to use SS Robin and its supporting Pontoon for events, exhibitions and experimentation, including visual and sonic works. An early intervention revisited here is a large pinhole image of the Post Office Tower, created within a former advertising agency in Fitzrovia, the neighbourhood where our CIC was founded, and continues to engage with local residents, working from the historic TJ Boulting building on Riding House Street, right opposite the Middlesex Hospital site where we did our first public engagement in 2008. Fitzrovia and the West End are also the focus of Robert Elms’ talk on Belonging and Ken Worpole’s walk looking at the Bohemian migration to the East End in the post-war period, that begins at the nine storey chihuahua mural on Chrisp Street. Iain Sinclair’s specially prepared presentation includes Poplar, Canning Town and the Lower Lea, incorporating the target Neighbourhoods of this year’s London Festival of Architecture.
PONTOON EXHIBITION (FREE, NO BOOKING REQUIRED)
Friday 26 June – 11am–5pm
Saturday 27 June – 11am–1:30pm – Until ticketed talk, see below
Sunday 28 June – 11am–1:30pm – Until ticketed talk see, below
GLASSBLOWING LEARNING SESSIONS (BOOKING REQUIRED) Situated in front of propeller of SS Robin on top of pontoon. https://www.instagram.com/workinglass/
Friday 26 June 2026
11am–1pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
1:30pm–3:30pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
4pm–5pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
Saturday 27 June 2026
11am–1pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
1:30pm–3:30pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
4pm–5pm — Book here from Monday 1st of June
WALKING TOUR OF POPLAR
Led by eminent social historian and writer Ken Worpole http://worpole.net/
Saturday 27 June 2026
2:30pm – 4pm Book HERE
Meeting Point: Under the chihuahua mural, opposite All Saints DLR station.
NOTE: Due to this tour selling out in less than 12 hours, a second tour is being organised for September.
See: https://www.sohemiansociety.com/
TALKS ON THE THEME OF BELONGING
Q&A with popular broadcaster and chronicler of London culture, Robert Elms, in conversation with author and journalist Keiron Pim on ideas around the meaning of belonging:
Saturday 27 June 2026
Door time: 2:00pm, start time: 2:30pm — Book HERE
Presentation by leading writer, film-maker and poet Iain Sinclair, on the theme of belonging:
Sunday 28 June 2026
Door time: 1:30pm, start time: 2:00pm — Book HERE
WORKSHOPS | ACCIDENTAL LANDMARKS: REMAPPING LONDON TOGETHER
Host: Jackson Fowst
Friday 26 June from 12pm -2pm and 5pm -7pm — Book HERE from Monday 1st of June
Accidental Landmarks: Remapping London Together is a participatory exhibition and workshop series exploring the theme of BELONGING through the concept of ‘accidental landmarks’—the everyday, often overlooked spaces that communities transform through spontaneous use into places of meaning and connection. An open call invites participants to contribute photographs, objects, drawings, sound, film, or written reflections capturing London spaces that have become meaningful without formal recognition. These contributions will be developed further through a series of workshops, where participants are encouraged to reflect, share, and map their experiences. The project also prioritises sustainability, using low-impact, reusable materials and encouraging participants to bring existing items rather than create new ones. The project culminates in a collective multimedia installation—a reimagined map of London built from these contributions—revealing the city’s “accidental landmarks” and prompting reflection on who defines heritage, significance, and belonging in urban space.
WORKSHOPS | MAPPING BELONGING: BODY AND PLACE
Host: Elyssa Sykes-Smith
Saturday 27 June 2026 from 10am–12pm — Book HERE from Monday 1st of June
Workshops are open to all, with no prior knowledge required. Participants can contribute in a variety of ways—verbally, visually, or in writing—and are welcome to take part anonymously if preferred. The programme is designed to be inclusive, encouraging diverse perspectives shaped by migration, race, class, disability, and everyday life.
Saturday 27 June 2026 from 12pm–2pm — Drop-in workshop no booking required
What does belonging feel like in your body? Join these hands-on workshops at Trinity Buoy Wharf to map your connection to place through drawing, colour and shared creative making. These participatory workshops explore how a sense of belonging is experienced, embodied and expressed through body mapping, as a creative and reflective process. In the 2-hour workshop, participants will begin with a small drawing on paper before developing an individual life-sized body map on fabric: through guided prompts, participants will explore where they feel a sense of belonging, how that feeling is experienced in the body, and how it can be expressed through colour, words and imagery. No experience needed—just curiosity. All materials provided: print-outs, plain paper, fabric, tracing paper, pens, pencils, highlighters and tape.
What is body mapping?
“Body mapping involves tracing around a person’s body to create a life-sized outline. This outline is then drawn, painted, and written upon in a contemplative and creative process that assists the maker in reflecting upon, and expressing, their personal and embodied life experiences.”
— Dr Katherine Boydell, Black Dog Institute
The 2-hour drop-in session offers a more flexible way to take part. Participants can create a small individual body map or contribute to a shared, large-scale artwork, bringing together multiple experiences of belonging.
Participants: No experience needed—just curiosity
Disciplines: Drawing, body mapping, diagramming, writing
Please note that SS Robin and the pontoon are not step-free, as access is via a gangway that may be steep depending on the tide. Seating will be available and an accessible WC is located on site at other side of the Orchard Cafe. If you have specific access requirements, please get in touch in advance so we can support your visit.
Slideshow images: ch

BELONGING is supported by



















