In August 2021, the Association for Art in Public, the Monheim Kulturwerke, the YOU Foundation and the German Sailing League combined art, culture and sport to create a floating homage to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The German neo-expressionist Stefan Szczesny had painted a large-format J/70 class sail for eachSustainable Development Goal; together they formed the first sustainable culture regatta.

The event kicked off on 20 August with the exhibition „Stefan Szczesny. Paintings. Watercolours. Sculptures“ at the Andreas Quartier in Düsseldorf, followed by an artist talk on 21 August. The highlight was 22 August: 17 sailing boats set off from the Kulturraffinerie K714 in Monheim am Rhein, put their colourful messages into the wind and sailed down theRhine to Düsseldorf. There, State Parliament President André Kuper received the fleet at theyacht club’s jetty and honoured the artistic contribution to Agenda 2030.

The regatta established a new form of open-air exhibition: The sails became canvases, theRhine a gallery – a lively call to advance the SDGs together.