Puzzle PathwayThree Rivers in Three Cities

Puzzle PathwayThree Rivers in Three Cities

For three weeks, London’s vibrant south bank is spectacularly transformed with giant works of art created

through an ambitious international project linking schools from across the globe. This Thames Festival

project, run in collaboration with the British Council, the Department for Education and Skills and funded

by HSBC Education, Jack Petchey Foundation and John Lyons Charity, connects young people from London

Challenge schools with young people in Kolkata (India) and Chongqing (China).

Sixteen of the thirty-two participating schools in London were partnered up either with a school in Kolkata

or in Chongqing. The participating thirteen and fourteen year-old pupils studied their river and researched a

common theme such as wildlife, trade, development, history and the environment. Their fi ndings provided

inspiration for drawings, paintings, photographs and other media. Artist and design facilitators then showed

the students how to manipulate their work on computers and encouraged them to create a single and

coherent work in the style of a contemporary artist such as Chris Offi li, Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George,

Banksy and Andy Goldsworthy. Facilitators in Kolkata and Chongqing developed their work using Indian and

Chinese techniques and artists as style-guides.

In London, the 48 three-metre high artworks will be displayed on 32 pillars along the riverside Queen’s

Walkway from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge from Monday 28 August until Sunday 17 September in

the run-up to The Mayor’s Thames Festival celebrations taking place over 16 and 17 September.

The artworks will also be exhibited on Nanbin-Lu, Chongqing’s newly developed park beside the Yangtze

River in Chongqing from 29 September to 15 October 2006 and along the banks of the River Ganges in

Millennium Park as part of Kolkata’s Riverfront Festival in December 2006.

It is estimated that the Puzzle Pathway will be seen by more than three million people in London,

Chongqing and Kolkata.

Director of Education and Training Group at the British Council, Professor Mary Stiasny, said: `The British

Council is delighted to support this year’s Thames Festival with a pioneering initiative that is truly global in

terms of its scope. The resulting artworks on display along the South Bank are simply dazzling. The Puzzle

Pathway also lays the foundation for future international collaboration in view of the 2008 Olympics in

Beijing and London in 2012.’

Launched nine years ago with an amazing high-wire walk across the River Thames, the Thames Festival

has grown to become the capital’s largest free, open-air arts festival. The celebrations aim to promote

London as a world city, to refl ect the richness of London’s cultural communities and to foster a greater

understanding and appreciation of the River Thames.

For more information click on www.thamesfestival.org

Chongqing Schools involved in the Puzzle Pathway Project

Baxian Middle School, Fengjie Middle School, Fulin No 5 Middle School, No 37 Middle School, Southwest University Affi liated School, Wanzhou Language School, Yongchaun Middle School, Yunyang Middle School

Kolkata Schools involved in the Puzzle Pathway Project

Assembly of God Church School, BD Memorial Institute, Birla High School, DPS Megacity School, Future Hope School, MSB School, Pailan World School, Vivekananda Mission School

London Challenge Schools involved in the Puzzle Pathway Project

BrentCapital City Academy, Preston Manor High School

HackneyHackney Free and Parochial School, Skinners Company’s School for Girls

Harrow Bentley Wood High School for Girls, Hatch End High School, Nower Hill High School, St Gregory’s RC Science College

Kensington & ChelseaCardinal Vaughan School, Sion Manning School

LambethArchbishop Tenison’s CE School, Charles Edward Brooke School, Crofton School, Lilian Baylis Technology School, London Nautical School, Stockwell Park High School

LewishamAddey and Stanhope School, Catford Girls’ School, St Joseph’s Academy, Sydenham School

Merton Raynes Park High School, Ricards Lodge High School

SouthwarkSt Michael’s RC School, St Thomas the Apostle College, Waverley School

Tower HamletsMulberry School for Girls, Oaklands School, Raines Foundation School, St Paul’s Way School

WestminsterPimlico School, St Georges RC School, St Marylebone CE School

Addey and Stanhope School Lewisham

Artists Shona Watt and Pete Gomes led art and

design workshops with a school class group. Pupils

researched the Wildlife of the River Thames and

then, facilitated by Shona and Pete, made an artwork

based on their fi ndings in the style of Damien Hirst.