Folkestone Triennial, art and public spaces

The fourth edition of Folkestone Triennial, one of the UK’s most ambitious art exhibitions, opened on Saturday 2 September. 19 new site-specific artworks are being exhibited in the public spaces of this seaside town on the English channel, in Kent.


Art as a catalyst, a driver of change is an ongoing theme in 2017, full of major art events, from documenta14 to the Venice Art Biennale. The latest is Folkestone Triennial, organised by the Creative Foundation, an independent visionary arts charity dedicated to enabling the regeneration of Folkestone through creative activity. Folkestone has a population of 43,000 and is located on the coastline of south-east England. Since 2002 it has made great progress and the scenic harbour area is being turned into a better place to live, work, visit and study. Over five hundred jobs have been created and ninety buildings have been restored in the Creative Quarter and the Quarterhouse performance venue has been built. 
Folkestone has no publicly subsidised art gallery, so artists are invited to use the town as their ‘canvas’.
Folkestone Triennial 2017  is curated by Lewis Biggs, former Artistic Director of Liverpool Biennial, and its title “double edge” refers to the two main axes around which the town developed: the seashore and the Pent Stream, an ancient watercourse flowing from the North Downs into the sea, dividing East and West Folkestone. 
Some of the 19 site-specific works created for the 4th Folkestone Triennial will remain in the town even after it ends on 5 November 2017. The artists have been invited to make use of the specifics of the locality to explore universal ‘edge’ issues, including borders and frontiers. Visitors are treated to artworks by internationally acclaimed artists, including Antony Gormley, Richard Woods, Sol Calero and Hoy Cheong Wong, spread throughout the town so they really engage with the urban space and its users.
The Folkestone Triennial is not limited to just the artworks, it is also serving up a great programme of public events, centred on the “double edge” theme to explore new directions for community development together with the citizens.

Christiane Bürklein

Folkestone Triennial 2017
from 2 September to 5 November 2017
Folkestone, Kent, UK
Images: © Thierry Bal, courtesy of Folkestone Triennial
Participants:
Rigo 23, Studio Ben Allen,Sol Calero, Michael Craig-Martin, Diane Dever and The Decorators, Antony Gormley, Alex Hartley, Lubaina Himid, Emily Peasgood, Amalia Pica, Marc Schmitz  and Dolgor Ser-Od, David Shrigley, Bob and Roberta Smith, Sinta Tantra, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, Gary Woodley, HoyCheong Wong, Bill Woodrow, Woods, Jonathan Wright 
Find out more: http://www.folkestonetriennial.org.uk/
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