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Join Dr Matthew Brown on a football themed boat tour to our Ballast Seed Garden, alongside other exciting activities based on dry land.

What were the first rules of football?  Who were the first players?  What did the first kits look like?

Take a journey to our Floating Ballast Seed Garden (boat leaves at 2pm from Arnolfini) and hear all about the history of football on the way. 

Just as Maria Theresa Alves, the artist who created the Floating Ballast Seed garden, traced the journeys of South American seeds, Dr Brown will uncover some of the fascinating stories of the origins of football in South America.

Try some of the exercises that the visiting players did on board ships and there will be a competition to design your own football kit or mascot with illustrator Rose Robbins. The best design for a football shirt will be made up for the Deportivo team, which is a Spanish-speaking team based in the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol.  Participants will also be able to design a logo or mascot which will be copied onto a football and offered in a raffle for charity.

Boat tour between 2pm-3:30pm, please book your ticket in advance and meet in the Arnolfini foyer at 1:45pm.


Drop in activities in the Light Studio between 1pm-5pm including:

Fuzzy Felt workshop with UnCanny Creations.  Make your own felt flower or bug to go in our giant fuzzy felt garden. Suitable for ages 4+ (£1.50 charge to cover materials)

Badge Making with digital artist Dane Watkins.  Create a special contemporary art illustration of your family and transform it into a badge to take home.


This event has been part funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the AHRC Cultural Engagement Fund pilot scheme, working with Arnolfini Research Associate Catherine Hunt, Department of History of Art, University of Bristol.  Catherine has put together a programme of events which engage with themes arising from Seeds of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed Garden, especially migration, the movement of plants, seeds and soil, and the trading history of Bristol and its legacy.