Flashing Hands

SCABAL collaborated with St. Edmund Primary School in the Isle of Dogs to design the linking route between 3 pods. The pods formed part of ‘Tides and Times’, a project by BBC 21CC which collaborated with schools to create an exhibition celebrating the history, geography, ecology and sociology of the river Thames. With the aim to encourage young people and the general public to engage with the river that runs through the heart of the city.

The inspiration came from workshops with the school children. In the first workshop the children played the role of Thames detectives that investigated the iconic buildings between the different pod locations, where they were encouraged to draw and write short stories about the chosen sites. On the second workshop, our creative year 6 team had to present their findings and start drafting a linking route with appropriate signage and mapping techniques. They modelled and decorated their own hands in plaster to represent the ‘Flashing Hands’ that would guide visitors along the route. And these became the main inspiration for SCABAL’s proposal of colourful vacuumed formed hands. The plastic hands are attached to existing street furniture creating a visual link along the route and guiding people up and down the river walk.

The project was installed along the river Thames for the Southbank Festival from 16th of July to mid September 2009