Estuary 2021 is the second edition of the large-scale arts festival that celebrates the lives, landscapes and histories of the spectacular Thames Estuary.

Taking place on the river itself, and along the 107 miles of South Essex and North Kent coastline, contemporary artworks, discussion and events explore and respond to powerful themes resonant to the estuary.

In Mikhail Karikis’ short video, a class of seven-year-olds from an East London school, study and discuss Ted Hughes' story The Iron Woman. The kids also get a crash course (from Karikis) in the dynamic properties of sound – how it ripples and reverberates through the material universe; and how it can trigger transformative change. A highlight of the video is Karikis’ use of cymatics experiments, in which the vibrations of a particular noise or utterance, when passed through liquid or other viscous or powdered matter, acquire their own unique visual signature. Activated by sound, each random spill suggests a hubbub of possibility, as mysterious as it is unsettling.