Greenwich+Docklands International Event is London’s greatest free outdoor theatrical and performing arts festival, making an unmatched contribution to the joy of the people of London. The GDIF is dedicated to establishing the new ground for outdoor performance and increasing the ambition, quality, and variety of outdoor work created in the United Kingdom.

GDIF is the main annual event produced by FESTIVAL.ORG and is apart of Royal Greenwich Festivals, a yearly series of elevated events held by the Royal Borough of Greenwich which promote cultural vibrancy.

This year they are bringing not only one but two sensory spectacles to the streets of London…

Charon

Canning Town

1-10 September

FREE

“The last rite of passage on the way to the afterlife.”

Charon is a massive 32-foot-high rotational zoetrope featuring posed human skeletons placed on its inner edge, driven entirely by you…

Teams of volunteers will embody the mythical ferryman, who rowed, according to the Greek Myth, the souls of the lately deceased over the river Styx, each night, steeped in spectacular light and sound.

Peter Hudson’s remarkable, dynamic work, which was originally designed for Burning Man, will now overtake a new festival ground in Royal Docks, extending the spirit of Nevada’s iconic celebration of art, community, as well as self-expression to East London for the very first time.

Island Of Foam: Version XVII

Greenwich Peninsula

3-4 September

FREE

This multi-colored and mesmerising installation by German artist, Stephanie Lüning, will transform Greenwich Peninsula using mountains of rainbow-coloured foam.

Marvel as the artist creates this ephemeral installation in real time, expanding, duplicating, and altering as it envelops architectural elements.

This beautiful and captivating alteration of public space pushes the boundaries of typical painting as the artist picks and combines colours that take on mountainous forms and volumes before vanishing.