We invite attendees, ecologists, researchers, designers, musicians, artists, creative practitioners, and everyone else to this full-day, in-person workshop at the 2026 New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference (NIME). Together, we’ll discuss and engage with the multiple identities, phases, and histories of waterbodies.

To explore the practicalities of human-machine-water relationships, we’ll take a listening sound walk alongside the Lee Navigation canals in East London, near the Loughborough University London (LUL) host campus. During our day out, we’ll query the plural perspectives that make up the River Lea and its diversion along the Lee Navigation, as a greater entity beyond the physical waterway, and how these can be listened to and engaged with through sound and audio technologies.

Participants will explore relationships and interact with the river in many ways, asking whether and how sound technology can foster respectability and non-hierarchical relations with these ecosystems and our world more broadly.

Registration

Registration information and the sign-up form can be found here: [Registration Information]

The deadline to register is 19 June 23:59 Anywhere on Earth (AOE) time. Registration will close at the deadline or when the number of registrations reaches 20 participants, whichever is first.

Schedule

A detailed schedule can be found here: [Schedule]

The Third Bank Workshop will take place as a full-day workshop at the 2026 NIME Conference on Tuesday 23 June 2026. The event will be held in-person only, with the necessity of on-site engagement.

The workshop is split into two three-hour sections, with a one-hour lunch break between.

  • The first half will involve a general opening with the introduction of organisers and participants, a short context of the River Lea and the Lee Navigation, and a sound walk through its banks.
  • In the second part of the workshop, participants will form small groups for in-depth engagement with experiences along the canal. After, we will discuss each groups’ creations, as well as possible outcomes and ways of collectively sharing the work.

Accessibility

We are committed to making this workshop accessible to all. If you have any accessibility requirements we can support, please let us know in the above registration form.

You can find information about Accessibility at the NIME Conference here: [Accessibility FAQ]

The section of towpath chosen for the workshop from Loughborough University London (LUL) to Old Ford Lock is wheelchair accessible.

Participants are asked to bring anything necessary for a comfortable outing, including proper footwear and clothing. In the case that it is raining (as it often does in London), participants are advised to bring waterproof jackets. Organisers can supply reusable ponchos and umbrellas as needed, incorporating the weather into the listening experience.

More information can be found here: [Workshop Proposal]