Arts & creative industries

The arts and creative industries have been part of GDP’s Cody Dock since its inception and are not only seen as key to Cody Dock’s sustainable business plan but as an essential engagement tool that enables us to share the wonders of the Lower Lea river and its diverse heritage and ecology. Our 1000 year lease enables us to provide long term security for artists and creative industries who are as excited as us about living and working in the area and wish to help build stronger more sustainable futures for local people.

The history of art and the creative industries in Newham: despite recently being part of the cultural Olympiad, Newham has one of the lowest rates for participation in arts and cultural activities in the country. However, that is all about the change!

Cody Dock Arts

Arts in all its forms have been intrinsically woven into the fabric of Cody Dock’s development journey, both in terms of engaging its stakeholders, shining a light on its hidden heritage and inspiring the conversations to make it happen.

If you have an idea for a new project or collaboration that could happen at Cody Dock or would like to help us with delivering an existing project, please contact our office for further details at [email protected]

Recent creative projects at Cody Dock:

Daniel Vollmond

Daniel Vollmond

Daniel Vollmond (previously known as Dressel) is an artist who works across media exploring social relations and everyday situations, in an attempt to ‘hack’ and debunk underlying rules and belief systems. His practice operates somewhere between auto-biography, documentary and speculative fiction, both in private and in public space, which often results in scenarios in which the work appears in the process of ‘making itself’ through its interaction with the viewer. Selected works include:

Our Homeland is Each Other was commissioned by the Imago Mundi Collection, a global contemporary art project involving over 20,000 artists from 150 countries.
Prototype (Politics) is a 3-player game where the players have come up with agree their own rules and in doing so they explore the rules behind society; for example competition, teamwork or politics in general.

Cats & Crusaders: https://danielvollmond.com/about-cats-and-crusaders/

JETWASH was commissioned by DAD ( Dover Arts Development) and explores questions of privilege, migration and borders and featured his van, which has been his home and studio for almost four years.

Judith Kusi

Judith Kusi

Judith Kusi is an East London based artist whose practice is underpinned by psychology and has evolved into creating works stimulated by critical antiracist reflection.

Judith co-produced the Somewhere I Live exhibition with fellow artist Adeyam Tsehaye at Cody Dock in 2020. This show reflected on their shared experiences of the global health crisis and the global focus on racial injustice. The importance of their connection to, and feelings of belonging within their local area, were revealed as pertinent to their well-being during these uncertain times. Their experience of the amplification of the Black Lives Matter movement provided them with inspiration to seek ways of facilitating allyship within and between their respective communities. Cody Dock as a community well-being space sandwiched between, and connecting the two boroughs that Adeyam and Judith call home, provided the ideal space to initiate allyship.

https://judithkusi.com/about-judith-kusi-artist

Thomas Randall-Page

Thomas Randall-Page

Tom’s practice portfolio ranges in both scale and permanence, from the recently completed 250m square Art Barn in Devon, to the competition-winning AirDraft, an inflatable experimental floating arts venue. The core of his work is unmistakably architectural, yet it prides itself on taking on design challenges which border or even trespass on other disciplines, from scenography to industrial design, from boat building to bridge design. Tom is the creative designer of Cody Dock’s Rolling Bridge.

https://www.thomasrandallpage.com/Cody-Dock-Rolling-Bridge

Lydia Thornley

Lydia Thornley is an East London-based graphic designer, illustrator and workshop presenter who specialises in reportage sketching. Recent work includes:

Breather: commissioned for the 2022 Bloomsbury Festival.

26 Habitats: commissioned for the not-for-profit trust 26 in collaboration with The Wildlife Trust.

NEST Collective

NEST Collective is a leading force in contemporary and cross-cultural folk music. Founded in 2005 by Mercury-nominated artist Sam Lee, the Nest Collective began as a small gathering of music and folk lovers. Today, their vibrant annual programme includes a diverse range of music events in locations across the UK, featuring outstanding emerging and established folk, world and roots artists from across the globe.

Singing With Nightingales annual fireside collaboration between guest artists and the nightingales.

Campfire Club brings people together to experience extraordinary music in magical fireside locations, rekindling connections with nature, tradition and community.

Tim Allen

Tim Allen is a stop motion animator who regularly operates as the Animation Supervisor & Lead Animator on some of the biggest stop motion animation productions in the world.

Most recently as key animator on Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, Wes Anderson’s film Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr Fox, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride & Frankenweenie, & many more.

Tim’s relationship with Cody Dock goes back a long way and has delivered multiple animation workshops, contributed toward events and even animated our Rolling Bridge to help raise its funding.

https://timallenanimation.co.uk/

Project On A Bus

Project On A Bus is rooted within the ethnically diverse and culturally rich area of East London and emerged from the Performing Arts Undergraduate course at the University of East London (UEL) in Stratford. Inspired by The Freedom Riders civil rights activists, it has been conceived by UEL Performing Arts lecturer Juliet Knight and co-programme leader Carrie Mueller as a platform through which graduates professionals and artists from the community receive support for creating and showcasing original, exciting, and socially aware performance work.

Carrie Mueller led the delivery of a site-specific promenade performance, ‘Liguan Flows’ by University of East London dance students in 2023. 

The Line

The Line is London’s first dedicated public art walk and Cody Dock is located at its geographical centre. Originally conceived by Migan Piper & Clive Dutten, this outdoor exhibition programme illuminates an inspiring landscape where everyone can explore art, nature and heritage for free. The route runs between the Queen Elizabeth and the O2, following the waterways and the Greenwich meridian line.

Damien Hirst’s Sensation, Antony Gormley’s Quantum Cloud, Alex Chinneck’s A Bullet from a Shooting Star, Laura Ford’s Bird Boy, RanaBegum’s No. 1104 Catching Colour, Cody Dock’s Nature in Mind a piece inspired by the work of Madge Gill, Abigail Fallis’ DNA DL90 22consisting of 22 shopping trolleys in the shape of a double helix and Tom Price’s Black Everywoman are just a few of the artworks that have featured as part of The Line.