A new text-based installation by Zineb Sedira for The Line at Three Mills Studios reflects on cinema, dreams and the flow of rivers.
The Line, East London’s public art trail, continues its tenth anniversary programme this month with the unveiling of a new work by the Franco-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira. On 9 October, Sedira will present Dreams Are a Language Made of Images, a sculptural installation sited at Three Mills Studios on the River Lea.
Co-curated with Arup Phase 2, the piece forms part of The Line’s Longitudinal Dialogues series. The text-based installation takes its cue from a quotation by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. Rendered in steel-cut letters designed to appear as though they “float” from the studio’s brick façade, the words cast shifting shadows across the former gin distillery complex as daylight moves around the building. By night, the structure will be illuminated from below, evoking the glow of historic cinema signage.
Photo credit Angus Mill
Sedira has long engaged with the connections between dreams and cinema. In her words, “Rivers are forever changing and moving. Like dreams they are not fixed. Rivers are places of mobility, routes to other countries, other worlds, other dreams.”
Sarah Carrington, Director of The Line, said: “We are delighted to have realised Zineb Sedira’s first public art commission in the UK. Sedira’s work reminds us of the importance of dreams to transport us from reality whilst remaining rooted in the context and meaning of its location. This project has also provided our first opportunity to collaborate with the iconic 3 Mills Studios on the route of The Line.”
Jennifer Greitschus, Head of Cultural Heritage and Exhibitions at Arup, added: “Zineb Sedira’s work is exceptionally multifaceted. While drawing inspiration from wider socio-political contexts her practice remains deeply personal and is all the more compelling for it. It has been a pleasure to have contributed to the realisation of this exciting new project for The Line.”
Photo by Tom Wilmot, courtesy The Line
Born in Paris in 1963 to Algerian parents, Sedira moved to London in the mid-1980s and studied at Central Saint Martins, the Slade School of Art, and the Royal College of Art. Her practice, which spans film, photography, installation and performance, addresses themes of migration, storytelling, and the partiality of official histories.
Sedira represented France at the 2022 Venice Biennale with Dreams Have No Titles, a work that received special mention from the jury and was later restaged at Whitechapel Gallery, London in 2024. Her exhibitions have ranged from the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and the Photographers’ Gallery in London to the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and the High Line in New York. Her work is held in major collections including Tate, the Centre Pompidou, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Sharjah Art Museum.
Alongside her exhibition practice, Sedira founded aria (artist residency in Algiers) in 2012 to foster international collaboration and strengthen Algeria’s contemporary art scene. She lives in London and works between the British capital, Algiers and Paris.
The Line, described by the Financial Times as “a groundbreaking public art trail”, links Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with the O2, following the River Lea and the Greenwich Meridian. It offers free access to contemporary works by artists across a shifting East London landscape.
©2025 Zineb Sedira, The Line
Contributing writer chronicling contemporary art’s beautiful mess — when he can get there. Survives on openings, opinions, one gallery, one artwork at a time. Considers espresso a meal.
