Free entry
15 July - 4 Sep 2026
Assembly Room
| Monday | Closed |
| Tuesday | 11am–6pm |
| Wednesday | 11am–6pm |
| Thursday | 11am–9pm |
| Friday | 11am–6pm |
| Saturday | 11am–6pm |
| Sunday | 11am–6pm |
Last entry 5.30pm
Please check the drop-down on the right for planned closures
Access requirements
The Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our exhibitions as accessible as possible for every audience member. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
Information about access on site at the gallery is available here https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/visit/access/
This includes information about Lift access; Borrowing wheelchairs & seating; Assistance Animals; Parking; Toilets and baby care facilities; Blind & Partially Sighted Visitors; Subtitles and transcripts; British Sign Language (BSL) and hearing induction loops; Deaf Messaging Service (DMS).
About This Exhibition
This exhibition takes place in the Assembly Room space at Whitechapel Gallery, located on the ground floor.
This exhibition is free entry and drop in, with no booking required
Transport
Our nearest train station – Aldgate East Underground (1 min) is not wheelchair accessible. The closest wheelchair accessible stations are Whitechapel (15 min), Shoreditch High Street (15 min) or Liverpool Street (15 min).
Free parking for Blue Badge holders is available at the top of Osborn Street in the pay and display booths for an unlimited period. Spaces are available on a first come, first served basis.
The Ropery takes inspiration from the unique histories of rope making in east London to create a participatory exhibition exploring the material processes of this fundamental but endangered craft.
We invite gallery visitors of all ages to engage in hands-on rope making, spinning, twisting and knot tying.
The exhibition aims to showcase the innovation and creativity of this vital craft, whilst acknowledging the tangled histories of global trade, industrial heritage and the lives of thousands involved in an industry in east London that spanned over 200 years up until the mid 1900s.
Whilst the physical infrastructure of the industry has long been replaced by housing, the local street names, including Cable Street and Twine Court in Shadwell or Ropery Street in Mile End, are left to hold the legacies.
As our contemporary lives move us ever further from a material understanding of the world, The Ropery asks us to reengage in modes of embodied learning. Co-created with designer Sanne Visser we invite you to turn your hand to making rope from repurposed materials and learn the fundamentals of knot tying. Discover Sanne’s crafted objects throughout, where rope is applied as functional and decorative using hyperlocal materials. A specially created film by Samara Addai evokes the poetry of these processes and explores the trace legacies of these crafts in east London.
The Ropery is designed to be a vibrant space for communities to connect through making, to share local histories and to interrogate notions of regenerative practice, circular design and the social contexts of crafting.
Please note children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
Studio Sanne Visser is a material design research studio focused on exploring material innovation and future thinking through making and learning for circular worlds. The studio specialises in regenerative design, systems thinking, and sustainable solutions, with a unique emphasis on using human hair as a resource. Through exhibitions, workshops, and collaborations with leading institutions globally, Studio Sanne Visser is at the forefront of driving material change and circular design.
Sanne Visser, the founder and director, is a material explorer, designer and researcher with over nine years of experience working with hair.
She graduated from Material Futures at Central Saint Martins in 2016 and has since exhibited her work at major institutions worldwide, including the Textielmuseum, Museu del Disseny de Barcelona, Science Gallery Dublin, and the Design Museum. Her main interest as a design researcher is material innovation, regenerative design and systems thinking. Alongside running her practice, Sanne is an Associate Lecturer and PhD researcher at the University of the Arts London.
Her work has gained global recognition and media attention, with nominations for prestigious awards, including the AFFA and New Material Award. In 2022, she was named one of UKRI’s ‘101 jobs to save the world’ and now is leading the Design Exchange Partnership HairCycle in collaboration with Newham Council.
Samara is a videographer with credits in directing, writing and editing. The spine of Samara’s experience has been flourished with artists such as Boadi, Davina Oriakhi and Marco Caricola. She continues to plan future music videos amongst the RnB, jazz soul scene and on to directing her own short films. Samara has also composed corporate projects with names such as Design My Night, BYP Network, Camden Events and MBTN.
Within the film & tv industry, Samara is freelancing as a camera assistant in hopes of achieving her dreams as a cinematographer and director within the indie film scene. Her style is a marriage of hard hitting realist stories, adopted by surrealist imagery.
For other Backyard Biennale events to take place The Ropery will be closed on the following dates:
Saturday 18 July
Thursday 23 July
Thursday 30 July
Friday 7 August
Saturday 8th August (from 2.30pm)
Sunday 9 August
Thursday 13 August
Thursday 20 August
Thursday 27 August
Friday 28 August
Please note this list may be updated during the run of the exhibition with additional closures. We recommend checking on the day of your visit to avoid disappointment.
