Triennial 2021 Report by Ioannis Ioannou

Sponsored by

2021 Report 1

Mike Stubbs, Climate Emergency Services. Photo by Matt Rowe

“The fifth edition of the triennial public art exhibition is truly transformative.” - Ben Luke, Evening Standard

Creative Folkestone was proud to present, in the midst of a global pandemic, the most successful Triennial to date. Delayed a year and still with all the uncertainty of Covid all around us, Triennial 2021 transformed Folkestone; the local economy received a reboot, the town once again became a buzzing cultural seaside destination packed with visitors having fun, alternative routes/ plots by car and foot were revealed, new and transformative histories were shared, and street scenes changed forever. There were legacy projects including Pioneering Places East Kent at the Gasworks site which was a catalyst for new housing to be built, there were street parties and parades, and impressive national and international media coverage. All of this leaves a legacy of positive change in the town but none of it would have been possible without our funders, sponsors and partners who demonstrated their belief in the power of creativity by supporting us to deliver this transformative event.

Executive Summary

The fifth Creative Folkestone Triennial, curated by Professor Lewis Biggs and entitled The Plot, took place over 15 weeks in 2021 from 22 July until 2 November. There were 23 new artworks commissioned from 21 international artists and collectives, positioned in 45 different locations around Folkestone. There were an estimated 220,000 visits in person with 45% of those visiting for the first time. 88% of visitors said that they felt it helps to improve Folkestone as an attractive place to visit, 77% felt it improves the public space and environment and 66% found it brings valuable business to the area. With visitors spending approximately £50 per visit, we calculate that the Triennial generated £11,000,000 of economic activity for the region with a further £2,091,000 of investment through funders and sponsorship giving a total of £13,091,000 direct inward investment into Folkestone. A Public Programme engaged with schools, HE and FE students, community groups and individuals of all ages delivering 245 inspiring and diverse events to 16,798 participants. 1.2 million people engaged digitally through video content, podcasts and online conferences/ talks and discussions and through a lively and interactive social media campaign. Impressive national and international digital, print and broadcast press and media coverage reached another 3.4 billion people. Through this, Folkestone’s reputation as an art town and a great place to visit or live is amplified throughout the UK and beyond.

Morag Myerscough, Flock of Seagulls Bag of Stolen Chips. Photo by Thierry Bal

Introduction

Artists

Visitor Numbers and Feedback

Economic Impact

Supporters, Partners and Stakeholders

Key Partnerships

Engagement

Public Programme

Education Programme

Higher Education

Marketing

Hosting

The Exhibition - The Theme

The Medieval Way

The Enlightening Way

The Milky Way

Introduction

Folkestone Triennial is a flagship project of Creative Folkestone and the largest outdoor exhibition of newly commissioned contemporary art in the UK. Every three years artists from diverse backgrounds, many of international standing, are invited to use the public realm as their inspiration to create new artworks that reflect Folkestone’s cultural history and highlight current topics affecting both the town and the wider world. This fifth Triennial was originally planned to take place in autumn 2020 but the Covid-19 pandemic intervened and it was decided to postpone it until 2021 and to expand the impact by extending the duration from 9 weeks to 15 weeks. Since its inception in 2008, Folkestone Triennial has established itself as an inherent part of the international calendar of periodical art exhibitions. It has done so by setting out to have an effect beyond the art programme itself, changing the character of the town and creating a spirit of place through changes to the physical environment and especially through changes in the thinking of the community. Each Triennial leaves its mark on the town as a good number of artworks remain in situ beyond the duration of the exhibition becoming part of Folkestone Artworks.

“As you wander around, the town reveals itself slowly, layer by charming and chaotic layer.” - Giovanna Dunmall, The National

Folkestone Triennial has already transformed the town through strengthening the connection between the community and the environment they share making it a better place to live, work, play, visit and study.

Michael Craig-Martin, Folkestone Lightbulb 2017. Photo by Matt Rowe

The last two Triennials - Lookout in 2014 and double edge in 2017 - have both been curated by Lewis Biggs, who has also overseen the fifth Triennial in 2021. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Public Art at the University of Shanghai, and a Trustee of the Liverpool John Moores Exhibition Trust (JMLET), the International Award for Art Criticism (IAAC) and the Institute for Public Art (IPA), of which he is the Chair. Folkestone Triennial is a Creative Folkestone project. Founded in 2002 with the belief that creativity has the power to transform people and places, Creative Folkestone is a visionary arts charity dedicated to the regeneration of Folkestone and surrounding area through producing and enabling the very best creative activity. Through our main projects; Creative Quarter, Quarterhouse, Triennial, Book Festival, Folkestone Artworks and Prospect Cottage, and underpinned by our learning programme, we enable creativity to flourish, enriching the town and making it a better place to live, work, visit, study and play. We aim to transform the look and the reputation of Folkestone as a creative town and to bring about significant social and economic change by working creatively and collaboratively with our community and partners.

Antony Gormley, Another Time 1999-2013. Photo by Matt Rowe

The Artists

The Triennial 2021 introduced work by 21 artists or artist collectives with 20 of them responding with newly commissioned artworks. Three of these artists were commissioned to create two new artworks each which brought the number of newly commissioned artworks to 23; more than any of the previous Triennials included. Additionally, four artworks were selected from the permanent collection, Folkestone Artworks, to contribute to the narratives that made up the exhibition. Several artists presented a series of work and therefore visitors found evidence of The Plot in 45 different locations around the town which made it more ubiquitous than any of its predecessors.

“The edition of the Triennial is full of colour, optimism and artworks by some of the most forward-thinking artists in the world.” - Joanne Shurvell, Forbes

The contributing artists/artist collectives were Assemble, Rana Begum, Sam Belinfante, Stephanie Bergman, Jyll Bradley, Patrick Corillion, Shezad Dawood, Richard Deacon, Diane Dever, Jacqueline Donarchie, Gilbert & George, Genuinefake, Tina Gverović, Mariko Hori, Christopher Houghton Budd, Atta Kwami, Morag Myerscough, Jaqueline Poncelet, Pilar Quinteros, Bob and Roberta Smith, Mike Stubbs, Jason WilsherMills, Wolfgang Winter & Berthold Hörbelt, Hoycheong Wong, Simon Davenport & Shahed Saleem and Bill Woodrow.

This group of international artists bring their own cultural experiences to Folkestone from all over the world including Bangladesh, Chile, Belgium, Mozambique, France, Croatia, Holland, Japan, Ghana, Germany, Malaysia as well as the UK. 11

Atta Kwami, Dusiadu (EveryTown) 2020. Photo by Matt Rowe

Jyll Bradley, Green Light (for M.R.) 2014. Photo by Matt Rowe

Visitor Numbers and Feedback

Approximately 220,000 people enjoyed the Triennial in 2021, up from 150,000 in 2017 and 135,000 in 2014. As in previous years calculating visitor numbers has been a major challenge as the exhibition is a free event, spread over the whole town, and therefore does not have a dedicated entry or exit point that allows accurate audience counting. Most of the artworks were also accessible 24/7 so that no time limitations existed. Two of the artworks; Rana Begum’s No.1054 Arpeggio and Pilar Quinteros’ Janus Fortress: Folkestone were also launched at an earlier and were enjoyed by the public over a longer period.

“Now this once-struggling seaside town is flourishing, a summer culture fixture perfect for all the family……….” - Nancy Durrant and Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times

For continuity and accuracy, similar methods were applied as in previous Triennials. Estimates were calculated considering the number of visitors the hosts’ clickers counted at selected artworks over certain time frames and those attending the accompanying Triennial programmes. The quality and impact of the exhibition was assessed through a public survey that was carried out within the Arts Council England National Portfolio evaluation framework and to which a total of 1029 responses were received.

“I’m so proud and privileged to have played a small part in all of this.” - David B, Resident

The survey included a number of standardised statements and respondents could rank their answers on a sliding scale between 0 and 100. Visitor feedback was very positive with average responses to each statement ranking between 83 and 90. Enjoyment was given the highest rating, but people also appreciated the Triennial themes and accompanying engagement programme. They felt that the exhibition was well put together, the artworks and topics timely, challenging and inspiring. The quality of the artworks was rated very high or high by 91% of visitors, and when asked to describe their experience the most used descriptions were - fun, interesting, enjoyable, provoking, challenging and exciting. The Triennial attracted a high number of new visitors with 45% responding that they visited the exhibition for the first time. Compared to the previous exhibition this proportion has doubled, indicating that our audience reach is broadening. As a reason for visiting the exhibition, 56% indicated they came because of an interest in art events, 41% mentioned they have an interest specifically in contemporary art, 35% came because they were visiting Folkestone and 20% had other reasons. Seventy-three percent of visitors felt the exhibition plays a part in improving people’s knowledge of contemporary art. Visitors also appreciated the overall benefit of the exhibition for the town, with 88% responding that they felt it helps to improve Folkestone as an attractive place to visit, 77% felt it improves the public space and environment and 66% found it brings valuable business to the area.

Economic Impact

Initial inward investment - The Triennial would not have been possible without the funding provided through grants, donations and sponsorships by trusts, charities, companies, individuals and local, regional and governmental authorities. We are immensely grateful for the 21 grants, donations and sponsorships received with a total value of £2,091,000.

“Fantastic memories………... So many special exhibits and everyone was so helpful in explaining and sharing the information.” - Lena, Resident

Subsequent investment - This fifth Triennial had an extended running time of almost 15 weeks which included the summer holiday period and attracted around 220,000 visitors. With an estimated average spend in the town of £50 per person in the shops, restaurants, cafés and hotels, the investment into the town can be estimated at £11,000,000; a much welcomed boost to the local economy after multiple lockdowns. Economic value of media coverage - It is immensely difficult to quantify the success of a PR campaign and although the industry has moved away from using the advertising value equivalent (AVE) and resulting PR value as a assessment metric it has not been replaced by a value that is universally accepted. Considering the media coverage matched the one achieved in 2017 but with a nearly tripled circulation, we can assume that the economic value of the media coverage exceeded the one achieved in 2017. However, as a precise figure is not available for this Triennial covering both print and online press coverage, the economic value of the media coverage has not been taken into consideration to calculate the total economic impact. Total Economic Impact - The total economic impact was calculated taken into consideration the direct investments made through grants, donations and sponsorships to Creative Folkestone and the estimated visitor spend. The total direct economic impact to Folkestone totalled £13,091,000.

genuinefake, FORTUNE HERE 2021 (Detail). Photo by Matt Rowe

Supporters, partners and stakeholders

Creative Folkestone is enormously grateful for the huge support we received from partners, funders sponsors and stakeholders. We acknowledge with gratitude the major contribution that was once again made by our founding funder, The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust. Substantial support also came from Art Council England as part of the National Portfolio Organisation’s (NPO) funding scheme, the Oak Foundation, The Henry Moore Foundation and our major sponsor, Saga.

“We are proud to have sponsored Folkestone Triennial which drew visitors back to Folkestone following the pandemic.” - Euan Sutherland, Group Chief Executive, Saga plc

We are immensely grateful to Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) for their financial support and for their time and enthusiasm to help create their first Triennial artwork in partnership with Creative Folkestone, Rana Begum’s No. 1054 Arpeggio. The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England, with Historic England, funded the community programme associated with the Ship Street Gasworks site over the past three years as part of the Pioneering Places East Kent project. The artworks located on the Ship Street Gasworks site were also financially supported through this ambitious placemaking project as well as by Kent County Council and Canterbury Christ Church University.

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all organisations and companies who funded individual Triennial artworks or specific parts of the engagement programme. Generous support was received from the Embassy of the Netherlands, Artconnexion, England’s Creative Coast, Jenner and the European Union funded Interreg North Sea Region project CUPIDO. Our special thanks for their financial contributions to the Triennial to Breem Construction, Holloway, Lees Pavilion Development Limited, Martello Building Consultancy, Neat Studios, Otterpool Park and Quinn Homes. Numerous companies and individuals donated their valuable time and expertise or were instrumental for the success of the Triennial through contributing services or allowing us the use of their land and properties. We would like to specifically thank Kent County Council, Folkestone and Hythe District Council, Folkestone Town Council, Folkestone Museum, Islamic Cultural Centre, Folkestone Harbour Company, Folkestone Library, Portland Hotel, Parade House/Shangri La, Marleys, Folkestone Health Centre, Highspec Trading SE Ltd, South Eastern, Bagnalls, Dulux Decorator Centre and CCP Structures for their in-kind donations.

Jason Wilsher-Mills, I Am Argonaut 2021. Photo by Thierry Bal

Pilar Quinteros, Janus Fortress: Folkestone 2021. Photo by Thierry Bal

Key Partnerships

As in previous Triennials we worked in partnership with a number of organisations including arts organisations, local community groups and charities, schools, universities and local and regional authorities. Our work with partners is key to the success of our placemaking agenda and plays an essential role in amplifying our work beyond the local sphere, enriching the engagement programme, ensuring that local people are included in the planning and allowing access to specialist knowledge and expertise required by some artworks.

Creative UK Group, Creative Coalition Festival 2020

PPEK was launched as part of the national Great Place Schemes and is an ambitious project to make East Kent a better place to live, work and visit by exploring heritage, developing civic pride and connecting artists and communities. Four projects in East Kent were seen as a priority with Creative Folkestone taking the lead of the Folkestone project which aimed to revive the abandoned and disused Ship Street Gaswork site.

“Pioneering Places provided a beacon of unbridled positivity. Examining the power of heritage and culture-led projects… exciting ways in which innovative ideas have helped empower, enliven and enrich local communities, unlocking local landscapes as well as the creativity of the people who live there”

Over three years, the four sites in Canterbury, Ramsgate, Dover and Folkestone formed a close partnership working together with 30 schools, 3 FE colleges, 11 universities and more than 140 partners, stakeholders, local community groups and national sector organisations. At the Ship Street Gasworks site in Folkestone, three new public artworks were commissioned and installed as part of Folkestone Triennial 2021, fully opening the site to the public for the first time in decades and attracting over 17,500 visitors in less than eight weeks, raising awareness and increasing visibility of the sites through the power of art. Through collaborative work over four years with the community, professionals and policy makers, inspiring and credible proposals for the future use of the site were devised, unlocking an estimated development value of £18 million. The site has been reclaimed by the local community and purchased by Folkestone and Hythe District Council in early 2021. We are delighted that Folkestone and Hythe District Council have issued a call for proposals (CFP) to developers for mixed-use development of the site “with a strong focus on design, sustainability and art in public spaces”. The Call for Proposals specifies the council’s intention for developers to continue working in partnership with Creative Folkestone and the local community to create a flagship model of urban redevelopment that benefits the community for many years to come. A huge step forward for Folkestone in creative placemaking.

England’s Creative Coast

England’s Creative Coast (ECC) has been a landmark project between seven outstanding art organisations to create a new outdoor cultural experience along the South Coast of England. Creative Folkestone was one of the partners and the artwork Janus’ Fortress: Folkestone produced by Pilar Quinteros was co-commissioned to also become one 17

“Just loved the Triennial in my home town. Amazing! Thanks for putting this together!” - Becky, Residents

of a series of seven artworks unveiled for ECC in May 2021 at locations between East Sussex Downs and the Thames Estuary. Part of the accompanying community programme was the world’s first ‘art geotour’ which included compositions by sound artist Joel Cahen. Inspired by Pilar Quinteros’ artwork Janus’ Fortress – Folkestone, the artist worked with mental health charity MIND and students from local secondary schools to record two sound pieces that were placed in two geocache locations around Folkestone. There was a crowned skull hidden in Janus’ Fortress: Folkestone which was brought down from the East Cliff through the Creative Quarter to its new home in Payers Park on the evening of 2 November 2021 marking the end of the Triennial. More than 3,000 people joined the procession titled The Day of the Crowned Death which was a riot of colour and sound with drummers and school children acting as a guard of honour featuring Michaela Cisarikova Dance Company, Samba Pelo Mar and the Native Oysters Band.

Folkestone Fringe

The role of Folkestone Fringe was to widen the invitation to include local artists and creatives in the Triennial and give them a platform to help unveil the truths and fictions of a place that many called their home. The Fringe programme ranged from one-off moments, week-long exhibitions, intimate performances, open public workshops to hidden installations. Folkestone Fringe comprised of three strands. Fringe Open, was a noncurated platform titled Sub-Plot where anybody could participate at their own expense. Fringe Curated was a collaboration of six local artists who selected a mix of 18 different performances, talks, films and walks and Fringe Associates gave arts organisations with their own programme the opportunity to become part of the Triennial. All three strands together involved 496 artists delivering 182 events that were enjoyed by an audience of 28,721 people. Folkestone Fringe worked with a total of 105 businesses who were either hosting events or providing exhibition space.

Fringe Open: a:dress, A Climate Violence Dress. Photo by Joe Hill

Engagement

The exhibition was accompanied by a comprehensive Engagement Programme encompassing a Public Programme and an Education Programme comprising 245 events and activities and attracting 16,798 participants. Designed for people of all ages and abilities and with a range of interests the programme was packed with talks, guided tours, films, conferences and more offering audiences and participants a vast range of opportunities to dive deeper into the ideas, artworks and themes of the exhibition.

Public Programme

In 2021 constraints for travelling, particularly from outside the UK, made in-person participation for speakers challenging and the possibility to attend through a digital platform was also limited as the exhibition had to be seen and felt ‘in situ’. Emphasis therefore shifted to more locally relevant topics seeking regional talent and input and involving the resident artistic community. More outdoor events were offered and more digital content was produced. Each event at Quarterhouse was live streamed as the auditorium’s capacity was limited due to existing social distancing rules.

Tours

Guided tours were offered to the public every Friday and Sunday over the duration of the exhibition and most of the 108 available guided tours were fully booked welcoming 1,182 participants.

Courtesy of Visit Kent

HoyCheong Wong, Assemble and Lewis Biggs. Photo by Matt Rowe

“Working as a tour guide for the schools in Folkestone and surrounding areas was a massive highlight of the Triennial for me. …[The tours] were a huge success and I am so thankful to have been part of it. Lots of the young people came away completely inspired by the artists, some wanting to come back and take their family to show them what they had learned the next day!” - Laura, Tour Guide

They were as inclusive as possible to cater for a wide range of audiences and were led by academics, artists, art critics, a composer, an explorer and even a running coach. A ‘young parent and baby tour’ was offered for the first time by a lecturer in film studies and history who had her own first child during lockdown and understood the challenges young parents might face. A running coach took running groups of all abilities around the exhibition at a sociable pace, covering approximately three miles. Guides offered supporting information about the exhibition and gave audiences enough space to explore the artworks and voice their own opinions about them. Advice on how to Take Your Own Tour was also provided, for the first time, in online and in person sessions to anybody who wished to plan and tailor a visit to their family, a group of friends or colleagues at a time, date and distance that suited them. Alternatively, visitors could choose to be accompanied by Triennial curator Lewis Biggs while touring the exhibition through listening to one of the three podcasts in which he talked about art, urbanism, and Folkestone’s changing character and history.

Talks and Events

Four exciting series of talks took place in Quarterhouse that looked at questions of health, faith, myth and community as well as the pressing 21

issue of climate change. The series included a total of 10 sessions that were attended by 303 people with nearly 1,000 joining digitally. In ‘Intersections’, the artists who created the artwork Nũr and two members of Folkestone Mosque came together with journalist Remona Aly to reflect on the partnership which has been ongoing since 2016. The audience visited the mosque, listened to a presentation given by one of Nũr’s producers, the architect Shahed Saleem, on the history of mosques in Britain then joined a panel discussion by the imam of the mosque and members of the Muslim Community. 300 people joined the discussion digitally giving this exemplary collaboration much deserved exposure and filling the Muslim community with pride and a sense of achievement. During Emergency on Planet Folkestone, the artist Mike Stubbs discussed with Canterbury City Council Officer and environmental engineer Nicholas Thurston how art can influence our thinking about the environment and help us to appreciate what needs saving and what actions we should be taking right now to make a difference. The session was chaired by

Prof Charlotte Sleigh, an academic based at UCL with a research focus in science humanities. The third series of talks - Breath and Water, Blood and Bones - took place in the medieval St Eanswythe Church. Historian Revd Dr Lesley Hardy, Folkestone based GP Dr Sarah Montgomery and Grenville Hancox, a professor of music at Canterbury Christ Church University, explored topics around William Harvey and St Eanswythe. It was mid-pandemic and the intention was to find a way to talk about health, music, physical experience and art, as over the centuries many artists had made objects of beauty and devotion which can still be seen in this ancient building. From September onwards a series of seven salonstyle, expert-led talks followed by question-andanswer sessions took place every week under the title The Plot in the Clearing with drinks and nibbles served throughout. The relaxed and informal series centred around topics such as the diversity of stories, environmental activism and placemaking and included a stand-up performance by popular Folkestone based comedian Dan Atkinson who presented his ‘view’ of the Triennial.

HoyCheong Wong, Simon Davenport and Shahed Saleem, NŪR 2021 (Detail).

Jyll Bradley, Green Light (for M.R.) 2014.

Photo by Matt Rowe

Photo by Thierry Bal

Urban Room Folkestone 2017

During the Triennial, URF became a place for visitors to receive more in-depth information about artworks that centred around Folkestone’s history and geography and to discuss the town’s future development. A series of talks and discussions attracted 124 people. Let’s Play Plaza was a series of six sessions of talks and discussions accompanying Christopher Houghton Budd’s artwork Forgiving Light. It encircled the intersection of Tontine Street and the Old High Street in front of the harbour, an area that is the first arrival point for many visitors to the town. The public were asked to reinvestigate and reimage it as a new town square or even a town centre. One of the sessions, for example, looked at plazas/squares around the world trying to understand the dynamics of their success. Another series of events at Urban Room focused on the artwork Fortune Here which used themes and vocabulary familiar with the people of Folkestone as it referred to the history of a typical seaside town with its famous Rotunda Amusement Park. Four events, talks and discussions took place providing a platform to raise awareness and discuss grass root initiatives developed by Folkestone residents. More fundamentally, they aimed to raise the idea of people being active influencers of their own and their urban environment.

Folkestone Triennial Film Festival

For the first time, the Triennial hosted a film festival titled ‘Still Reeling’ showing films made by and about artists of the exhibition. Audiences enjoyed three days of films and animations, varying in length from a few minutes to almost an hour, offering a look into the Triennial artists’ practice and highlighting for the use of film as a medium for storytelling and documenting. The film festival was book-ended by two world premieres; M.R., a documentary by artist Jyll Bradley telling her personal story of adoption that lies behind her hop garden artwork Green/Light (for MR). and a film about the work of ceramicist Stephanie Bergman shot in her studio in Morocco. For many screenings the audience was joined by special guests – artists, directors and academics with a focus on film production - who discussed what it means to use film as an art medium and how film can play a part in the way that artists relate to the public. The purpose and value of using it as a documentary record was also debated for community projects relating to Triennial artworks such as Janus Fortress: Folkestone and Nũr.

Diane Dever, Urban Room Folkestone 2017. Photo by Thierry Bal

Mike Stubbs, Climate Emergency Services 2021 (Detail). Photo by Lou Johnson

Artist-led Events

As part of the public programme, the Triennial gave artists an opportunity to put on their own events which included artwork related performances and a series of talks and discussions. The events were taken up by an estimated 650 people. More than 600 people enjoyed Sam Belinfante’s ‘performed sculpture’ On the Circulation of Blood that was repeated three times in October in the Folkestone’s Lower Leas Coastal Park Amphitheatre. A particular magic and mystic unfolded during the performances that took place after sunset as the procession was accompanied by a choreographed light display. The artists had commissioned singing performers who were paired in duets and synchronised by a heartbeat; a reference to William Harvey. In a series of presentations organised by economic and monetary historian Christopher Houghton Budd, the speakers explored whether circulation concerning blood, money and people occurs autonomously or is triggered through certain stimuli.

FOLKESTONE IS AN ART SCHOOL

Under the banner of Bob and Roberta Smith’s declaration FOLKESTONE IS AN ARTWORK, creatives were invited again to design and deliver their own activities and become part of the Triennial programme. In total, nine events were organised attracting an audience of 319. Taking inspiration from Richard Deacon’s artwork, ‘Benchmarks 1-5’, the artist Thurle Wright invited families to join her for a workshop and create their own folded Paper Polygon sculptures. In another workshop, organised by Melanie King, participants learnt all about sustainable photographic techniques, including how to create a chemigram print, a process that is a mixture between paint and print. A curatorial mentorship platform entitled Glue was launched in response to a year of cancelled degree shows and reports of dwindling opportunities for art students to gain experience in putting an exhibition together. The project was co-funded through ACE and UCA Canterbury and marketed through Folkestone Fringe as part of their curated programme. Ten submissions were made in response to an open call for innovative and ambitious proposals from which a panel of art professionals selected two successful applications. The first exhibition, Marx on the Table, was curated by a final year art student and presented over a week in September in the Shakespeare Centre in Folkestone. It brought together five recent graduates who distorted the function of an object to touch upon themes such as identity, class, queerness and climate chaos. The second exhibition, Re-Rooting, was developed by a curatorial collective and took place over three weeks in October. It was inspired by the rising popularity of gardening during the pandemic and examined the relationship of five artists with nature as a place of personal and socio-political healing. Both exhibitions were enjoyed by a total of 205 visitors and involved 21 curators and artists. 26

Bob and Roberta Smith , FOLKESTONE IS AN ART SCHOOL 2017. Photo by Thierry Bal

Education Programme

The Education Programme offered an estimated 6,500 children and young people 87 workshops and other activities to help them to get creative. Inspired by Triennial artworks, the programme was complemented by 4,500 guides which were designed specifically for children and young people. In addition, resources were published on the website that could be used in school lessons or at home.

School Assemblies

During June and July 2021, 24 online assemblies were delivered to local primary and secondary schools reaching an estimated 4,500 pupils and students. In September an in person additional visit took place to a local primary school attended by 220 pupils. Despite Covid restrictions, we successfully delivered the assemblies through online presentations. Each one lasted around 15 minutes and included the introduction of a selection of the newly commissioned artworks. It was also an opportunity to draw attention to the online resources created for children and young people and available on Creative Folkestone’s website. At the end of each session the children had a chance to ask lots of questions and get excited about the exhibition and inspired by the artworks.

Teacher Sessions “The pupils enjoyed looking, considering, asking questions, and interacting with the artworks…... [They] really engaged…….and their enthusiasm, attitude and behaviour made us proud.” - Bridge and Patrixbourne School

The artist duo Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie known as Leap Then Look were invited to deliver primary and secondary school teacher CPD sessions. Twenty teachers attended the online sessions, giving them an opportunity to reflect on some of the themes of The Plot. The duo focussed on play and experimentation rather than artistic outcome and discussed the idea that making art is a form of research and that posing questions is a useful way to prompt and frame art practice. The teachers’ feedback was enormously positive as it helped them to learn about how to connect pupils with the Triennial artworks in a creative and playful way.

Workshops and Tours

A programme of 34 workshops and tours started in September with the delivery of five weekly activities attended by 1,015 children of different age ranges and abilities. Two school workshops and a community workshop took place during the week and a family drop-in workshop on the Saturday of each weekend. The workshops took place in the digital:glassworks studio and were assisted by two art degree and one PGCE students who were offering invaluable help whilst gaining teaching experience. In addition, a guided tour of the artworks was offered to schools every Friday. Local artists were invited to deliver the workshops which were all created and inspired either by the newly commissioned artworks or based on themes from The Plot. Every artist was asked to choose the artwork they felt most inspired by or resonated most to them in their own practice. The workshops offered participants a deeper understanding of the Triennial by applying the idea to make their ‘own version’ of the artwork.

Community Workshops

“Just want to thank you and Emily once again for a wonderful fun art session on Tuesday. The children thoroughly enjoyed it and were fully engaged all the time.” - Young Carers

English Creative Coast

Our established partnerships with local community groups such as Mind, Young Carers and Touchbase proved to be especially helpful to reach those members of the community who otherwise might not have participated in any Triennial activities. Fifty-two people attended nine community workshops that were specifically devised for people with varying needs and abilities and again took place in the digital:glassworks studio. Lead by experienced practitioners the workshops followed the same concept as the family sessions and centred around one of the Triennial artworks.

As part of the English Creative Coast (ECC) community programme, 19 workshops were delivered either online or in person that were attended by an estimated 567 children and young people. Six of the workshops were presented online in collaboration with a local artist to primary school children prior to the launch of Pilar Quinteros’ artwork in May. The workshops tapped into art history and pupils learnt about sculpture design and painting typically practised during Roman times. The concept of placemaking was also discussed with regards to how sculptures can change the perception of a landscape. Towards the end of the Triennial a further five workshops were delivered to schools and families during which children made paper crowns which they proudly wore to the closing procession of The Day of the Crowned Death that marked the end of the Triennial on 2 November.

Learning Resources

The Education Programme was complemented by a Family Guide and Young People’s Guide. The two guides were designed and illustrated by two Foundation level 29

“We have seen most of the artworks. My daughter loved especially the Glassworks workshops.…….we have been to most and each was brilliant. Thank you for this!” - Adrianne, Local Resident

students as part of their Final Major Project. The 4500 printed guides were distributed to families throughout the Triennial and used by schools on their self-led visits. In addition to the guides, the students designed stamps that were placed around five artwork locations and children had great fun in getting their guides stamped while walking around the exhibition.

Higher Education - National Student Days

The higher education programme encouraged undergraduate and postgraduate students to join one of two National Student Days over a weekend in October. In the morning, an introduction to the ideas behind the Triennial was given by curator Lewis Biggs which was followed by a guided tour of one of the three Plots. During the afternoon, a panel of art professionals and artists involved in the exhibition discussed with the students the challenges of producing and managing an artwork and the complexity of curating an exhibition. The debate was aimed at generating ideas and giving the students a better understanding of how to make a successful career within the arts. There were 180 participants over the two National Student Days and a further 120 students who could not make the weekend were given a bespoke guided tour on alternative dates.

The Matter of Circulation

This one-day postgraduate conference was a new initiative and devised as a way to encourage debate and cross-fertilisation between research areas in light of the changed conditions imposed by the pandemic. In preparation for this event an open call was made for PhD and MA students to apply for an opportunity to present their projects. The day opened with a keynote presentation from Lewis Biggs on the themes of The Plot followed by a guided tour of the exhibition before they came together for the afternoon session when the 12 chosen students presented their research in a critically friendly environment.

Photo by Matt Rowe

Marketing

Folkestone Triennial was widely marketed through 24 newsletters, 850 posters, 73,100 flyers, 190,000 Triennial website visits, a reach of 1.2 million through social media, a reach of 3.4 billion though printed and online media coverage on local, national and international platforms, through the local community, school assemblies and through Creative Folkestone’s professional networks of funders and partners. As Covid-19 restrictions were still in place during summer and autumn, the Quarterhouse foyer was chosen as a safe place for visitors to pick up a maplet or a catalogue of the exhibition or to just have a chat with one of the welcoming hosts or other members of the Visitor Experience Team. Mark Dion’s Mobile Gull Appreciation Unit again functioned as a temporary outdoor visitor centre and was placed initially on the entrance to Harbour Arm to raise awareness of the exhibition to people that happened to visit Folkestone during their summer holidays before it moved further west close to Leas Cliff Hall.

Media Coverage

An extensive marketing campaign was run by PR agency Pelham Communications resulting in 156 editorials, printed and online, amongst them articles in leading publications such as The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and The Times. There was, however, a slight shift towards digital publications with 32 printed editorials and 124 published online compared to 41 printed editorials and 114 online articles in 2017.

“I’m so proud and privileged to have played a small part in all of this.” - David, Local Resident

The circulation across all editorials nearly tripled for the Triennial in 2021 compared to 2017, reaching a readership of over 3.4 billion across leading trade, consumer and news media. 32

Launch of the Exhibition

Following the postponement of the exhibition in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a press release in March 2021 announced the new extended dates of the Triennial 2021, an update on the artists involved and additional information on the engagement programme and available digital resources. It featured Rana Begum’s beach hut artwork, No.1054 Arpeggio, as the first completed Triennial 2021 artwork. Ahead of the official Triennial launch a video was released made by local filmmaker Oliver Parkin with additional drone photography by local photographer Tom Bishop. Showing short statements from artists involved in the exhibition, it generated interest and excitement for the new artworks that had been placed around the town.

“The Folkestone Triennial is an enjoyable way of getting to know this place…..as its huge spread locations leads you to neglected corners as well as spectacular views.” - Jonathan Jones, The Guardian

About 1,350 people including artists, funders, partners, and other stakeholders were invited to the launch day on 21 July to celebrate the opening of the exhibition. Sam Belinfante’s artwork was performed three times on the day and Jacqueline Donachie invited everybody to join her on the Beautiful Sunday stage for a dance lesson led by a professional instructor to discover the steps of the Glaswegian line dance, the Slosh. An expert panel discussed Art and Place in Circulation in the Quarterhouse auditorium and during the evening Tontine Street was closed to the traffic for the big launch party with live music performed in Payers Park. The party was widely advertised in the local community and, in total, an estimated 2,500 people enjoyed the celebrations. With shops, cafés and restaurants in the Creative Quarter open it felt the celebrations marked another cornerstone of Folkestone’s economic revival after the long lockdown period which was warmly welcomed by the businesses in the town.

Jacqueline Donachie, Beautiful Sunday 2021. Photo by Matt Rowe

Digital

There was a significant shift towards a more flexible and responsive digital marketing and communications due to changing Covid restrictions. In addition, we were able to reduce print therefore allowing us to pursue our environmental agenda. A total of 24 newsletters were sent to approximately 13,000 recipients. The Triennial web pages attracted 90,000 sessions in the lead up to the exhibition and 100,322 sessions throughout its duration marking a 70% increase on the 2017 Triennial. It offered comprehensive background information about each artist and artwork and links to videos showing the artwork ‘in situ’. Artist interviews were carried out by art historian critics and curator Professor Jean Wainwright and were made available as audio clips. Live streaming was available, for the first time, for twenty events that were part of the engagement programme and videos were subsequently published on YouTube to give audiences the opportunity to watch them in their own time in their own environment. Triennial related content on YouTube and Facebook was viewed 21,802 times in total. Social media played an increasingly important role for reaching and engaging with the public. The number of followers on all three social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) increased by 2,817 and the total number of posts with a Triennial related content amounted to 729. Organic and paid posts on Facebook and Instagram had a combined reach of 780,754 and Twitter impressions reached more than 433,000 people; an increase of 70% and 84% respectively.

Shezad Dawood, The Terrarium 2021. Photo by Thierry Bal

Photo by Matt Rowe

Hosting

“The hosts are a fundamental part of the success of the Triennial, and this year’s group had such a strong team dynamic, with lots of very different individuals. Everyone brought enthusiasm, ownership, and knowledge to sharing the artworks, and I know tour participants really enjoyed their welcome.” - Zoe, Tour Guide

The Exhibition - The Theme “

The town’s huge array of outdoor sculptures ….[are] the most obvious expression of Folkestone’s upward spiral; the town is veritable smorgasbord of visual treats.” - Helen Coffey, Travel Editor, Independent

Crucial to the success of the Triennial was our team of hosts who were stationed at around twelve artworks and the mobile visitor centre to give visitors an enthusiastic and friendly welcome. Standing out in their red Triennial uniforms they often were the first point of contact for more in-depth information about the artists and artworks and the exhibition’s accompanying events programme. The team of 36 hosts and three Duty Hosts Supervisors were specially recruited for the exhibition. They were given extensive training to ensure they had the relevant knowledge and understanding of the exhibition to give visitors an excellent visiting experience. Twenty-one hosts came from Folkestone area which was a key marker of success for the Triennial as creating job opportunities for local people is one of Creative Folkestone’s aims. In addition, 13 hosts remained employed within the Visitor Experience Team after the Triennial ended.

The exhibition was titled The Plot and focussed on movement, circulation and narration. It documented people’s movement through their environment - the impact they have on the urban landscape and the impact the landscape has on them. It aimed to highlight that the urban landscape is constantly changing, with people, goods, traffic, money, knowledge and stories circulating through it to keep it alive and in flux. The individual artworks addressed a range of contemporary topics, climate change and environmental pollution, citizenship and responsibility, migration and cultural difference, memory, development and consultation. The Plot invited visitors to adopt an active attitude and explore and understand the artworks within the urban environment they were placed in. The exhibition was arranged along three routes and each of these ‘ways’ was a reminder of Folkestone’s history and offered an explanation as to why the town appears the way it does today. The ‘ways’ were presented in historical sequence – a medieval way, an enlightenment way and an industrial/post-industrial way.

The Medieval Way St Eanswythe – Miraculous Folkestone

St Eanswythe was a seventh-century princess of the Kentish royal family responsible for bringing Christianity and a religious foundation to Folkestone. She died young, but her bones remain here 1,600 years later, making her the earliest incumbent saint in the country. ‘Making water run uphill’ was one of the miracles that brought her the status of patron saint of Folkestone. The ‘miraculous’ watercourse named after her was a straightforward piece of engineering – a ditch following a contour line to bring fresh water from the Downs to the area that is now Radnor Park, then along the present Guildhall Street, and past the Town Hall to supply The Bayle Pond with fresh water. The route started on the corner of Radnor Park, where a statue of St Eanswythe presides over a drinking fountain. Nearby stood the first of five sculptures constituting Patrick Corillon’s On the Track of St Eanswythe’s Waterway, an artwork developed in dialogue with a group of local residents and enthusiasts of the legends of St Eanswythe. Corillon referred to the sculpture boxes as ‘reliquaries’ with each containing a text as well as images and objects associated with children’s games that used to be played in the street. The road that connected The Bayle with its hinterland co-existed with the watercourse for around 800 years until piped water replaced it, and the creation of a gyratory in the 1960s divided the street into two parts. Winter / Hörbelt’s St Eanswythe’s Return marked the significance of this event for the urban landscape with a dark wall and a bright tree. The steel wall and the tree-fountain together suggested the blockage of St Eanswythe’s Water, and with it, this vital and historic route into town that links East Folkestone to the commercial area. Market Place is the town’s original ‘place of exchange’ and commercial heart. It was one of the sites for a ‘performed sculpture’ by Sam Belinfante, On the Circulation of Blood. Named after William Harvey’s book (see below) this was a continuous performance to connect three key town locations through music and choreographed movement. Performers carried netting, poles and lights and in the process contributed to re-imagining these places as stage-sets for human drama. Folkestone’s medieval stepped pathways are often under-used but often the quickest way to get around town. Stephenie Bergman’s four ceramic sculptures Blood Letters A, AB, B, and O borrowed some character from traffic signs, and referred to blood types. They were placed on these pathways to draw attention to the possibilities for circulation through the town, as a sign of health, like the circulation of blood in the body.

Patrick Corillon, On the Track of St Eanswythe’s Waterway (Detail). Photo by Thierry Bal

The route continued down Bail Steps into Folkestone’s old town, The Old High Street, which is now part of the Creative Quarter. From The Old High Street an ancient pathway led to Mill Bay where the new ‘cabins’ have been the latest addition to the Quarter. The striking patterns of shimmer discs decorating the gables at each end of the new cabins have been designed by Jacqueline Poncelet. Shimmera had a dominant green 38

accent when travelling in the direction of Mill Bay, and a blue one when you were heading towards Tontine Street, the harbour and the sea. The way ended at Harbour Square which was renamed ‘The Plaza’ by Christopher Houghton Budd. The artist installed a circle of light-posts to mark what is historically the indisputable centre of the town: the point where a bridge crossed over the mouth of the Pent River allowing traffic to move between The Old High Street and the fishing village on The Stade. Titled Forgiving Light, the intervention was part of a plot to encourage a redesign of this area to minimise traffic and maximise pedestrian enjoyment.

Jacqueline Poncelet,

Sam Belinfante,

Shimmera 2021 (Detail).

On the Circulation of Blood 2021 (Detail).

Photo by Thierry Bal

Stephenie Bergman, Blood Letters AB 2021. Photo by Thierry Bal

Christopher Houghton Budd, Forgiving Light 2021. Photo by Thierry Bal

The Enlightening Way William Harvey: Circulating Folkestone

William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was born in Folkestone as a younger son of a family sufficiently prosperous for his father to become Mayor in 1600. He studied medicine, and eventually earned celebrity through being the first physician to publish in 1628 a complete description of the properties and systems involved in the circulation of the blood, in his book De Motu Cordis. He became Royal Physician to James I and Charles I. Harvey’s way started on the East Cliff, appropriately with Pilar Quinteros’ sculpture Janus Fortress: Folkestone. Janus was the Roman god of beginnings, transitions and time and associated with gateways: Folkestone has always derived its importance from being a gateway for the circulation and exchange of people, ideas and goods between England and the wider mainland of Europe. The Janus head, made of chalk and plaster, was designed to degrade and crumble like the chalk cliffs beyond, and a celebration of its decomposition marked the end of the Triennial on 2 November 2021. The effect of time was also a concern of Mariko Hori’s Mellowing the Corners, an artwork that consisted of Pulhamite ‘boulders’ on three different sites, containing objects donated by residents: they acted as a kind of time capsule as the objects gradually will become exposed in the future. The first was placed at the top of the ancient Stade Steps, doubling as a bench to allow pedestrians to catch their breath after the climb. The way then continued to St Peter’s Church in the east of Folkestone which was built in the 1860s for the fishing community who lived around a street called The Stade. The old drying grounds for fishing nets, and the local school, St Peter’s School, made this a place of ‘industry and education’, the circulation of produce and ideas, and another important site to host Sam Belinfante’s On the Circulation of Blood. The next focus was the Urban Room Folkestone (URF) 2017 which had moved from its original location in Customs House on the Harbour Arm to a pavilion in the Tram Road Car Park. The proposal for the URF came from Diane Dever and John Letherland in 2015, when they were commissioned to produce an ‘urban analysis’ of the town to support Triennial artists. URF continued as an artwork headed by Diane Dever as a place for events dedicated to remembering the history of the town and encouraging debate about its future. Heading West along the sea front was the site of The Rotunda amusement park that drew crowds until the 1990s and was subsequently demolished in the early years of this century. The pavilion FORTUNE HERE, created by genuinefake, was inspired by the imagery and atmosphere of the domed arcade building where the Rotunda got its name from. It was a contribution to the ongoing programme of URF, promoting alternatives to current models of co-operation and urban production. 42

“Artists use the town as their gallery and to engage with their surroundings. In doing so they contribute to Folkestone’s spirit and identity. Public art has the capacity to put a place on the map and….contributes to its individuality…..a testament to its evolution. ” - Ella Alexander, Harper’s Bazaar

RESPECT ROAD 2020 by Gilbert & George was installed on the end wall of a terrace that overlooked Folkestone’s biggest construction site at the time. The artists have always been concerned to reflect on contemporary urban life and their pictures conjured up some of the deep and conflicting emotions that people feel when they are caught up within the maze of the urban environment that human beings have constructed for themselves. Keeping close to the tide line, on the promenade along the sea front towards Sandgate was the site of The Ledge 2017 by Bill Woodrow. It was a monument to climate change, and its horizontal lines suggest a measure for the rising sea level. It supported figures of an Inuit and a seal and sat on a black puddle shape – an iceberg melting into a pool of oil. The human figure and its ecological counterpart the seal represented a long-evolved way of life, now standing on thin ice. A bit further down a row of rocks on Mermaid Beach suggested another opportunity to site one of Mariko Hori’s Pulhamite boulders, Mellowing the Corners. The refurbishment of 120 beach huts by the District Council along a half-mile section of the following shorefront promenade provided an opportunity for artistic intervention. Rana Begum responded with an explosive and tautly orchestrated blossoming of her painting practice, which is concerned with geometry, colour and light. The title, No. 1054 Arpeggio used the musical term for a chord broken into a sequence of notes played in a rising or descending order. Doubling back along the sea front, and climbing into the Lower Leas Coastal Park opposite Mariko Hori’s artwork, there is an amphitheatre which was the third location for a performance of Sam Belinfante’s On the Circulation of Blood.

Coming to the top of the cliff, a statue of William Harvey’s stands overlooking the sea at the junction of Castle Hill Avenue and The Leas. The statue provided an unusual opportunity for Jason Wilsher-Mills to reflect on his experience of the world as an artist with disabilities, as his own condition was caused by a blood disease. The contemporary counterpart of Harvey, I Am Argonaut, was a self-portrait and faced Harvey as if to interrogate the famous scientist of the blood. Close by, on the wall of the Portland Hotel, were two pictures by Gilbert & George, BLOOD CITY 1998 and BLOOD ROADS 1998. These images use visceral means to bring together two different ideas: the representation of the city through the mapping of streets and blocks of housing, and the ‘mapping’ of veins and arteries with blood cells moving through them. It is also a reminder of the suffering and anxiety caused by the Leaving the seafront behind along the grand Castle Hill Avenue was the site of the last artwork of this route, Atta Kwami’s colourful installation of five sculptures, Dusiadu (Every Town). They were derived from Traditional West African Street vending kiosks, sites for currency and exchange and the circulation of goods and gossip.

Rana Begum, No.1054 Arpeggio, 2021 (Detail). Photo by Thierry Bal

Bill Woodrow, The Ledge 2017. Photo by Thierry Bal

The Milky Way The Milky Way was the informal name for Foord Road South in the (Post) Industrial Folkestone late nineteenth century. It can be taken as an image standing for the

transience of Folkestone’s ‘industrial’ life. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, horse-drawn wagons hauled coal from the Harbour to Ship Street Gasworks and returned down Foord Road laden with chalk to be used as ballast by the ships. The road was stained black with coal dust and then white with chalk dust falling from the carts, making it look like the galaxy. The route started in Folkestone’s West End, in Kingsnorth Gardens, which are part of a claypit used to make bricks for the mainline railway viaduct across the Pent Valley, completed 1844. The arrival of the railway was a pivotal moment for Folkestone, marking its growth and evolution from military and fishing settlement to industrial-scale ferry terminal and leisure destination. Richard Deacon studied the role of plinths and bases in the history of the development of sculpture, and when he saw some empty bases in the gardens, he felt inspired to respond with bench-like sculptures, Benchmarks 1–5. The rich and varied ecology of the place suggested that he chose a medley of colours for the granite from which each of the sculptures was composed. The gardens were also the site for the third of Mariko Hori’s Mellowing the Corners, this one a boulder in the shape of a well-groomed bush, on an empty spot where a living example once completed the formal planting arrangement. Invited to consider whether an art school should be re-established in Folkestone, artist Bob and Roberta Smith realised that all the skills, knowledge and facilities required were already present – they just needed to be recognised and appreciated differently. His artwork consisted of a ‘sign-painted’ declaration on the disused platform at Folkestone Central Station that Folkestone Is An Art School. The picture by Gilbert & George, BEHAVE 2014, was placed on a billboard opposite of the entrance of Central Station. It showed two masked ‘London anti-fascists’ aiming catapults at the viewer, along with the faces of the artists in judges’ wigs. It was a reference to the The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act of 2014 that consolidated existing powers available for law enforcement as regards anti-social behaviour and empowered the police to decide on the legitimacy of people gathering on the street. The route continued to Ship Street Gasworks which closed in 1956, after operating for around 80 years with the structures finally being taken down between 1960 and 1964. The gasholders remained as storage for natural gas until their demolition in 2001, since when the site has been left derelict and empty.

Ship Street Gasworks was the location of four Triennial artworks. Jacqueline Poncelet had pierced the wall with bees-eye lenses and automated kaleidoscopes in a galactic scattering that dazzled the viewer’s perception like a firework display. Looking Ahead created a sense of celebration while inviting us to look towards the railway viaduct, the hills – and the future. At the corner of Ship Street and Bournemouth Road, Morag Myerscough created a welcoming new entrance to the Gasworks site, a cylindrical tower containing a viewing platform, the ghost of a gasometer. Flock of Seagulls Bag of Stolen Chips made a joyful and proud moment in the urban landscape, looking out over the site and its environment. The artist had invited residents from the neighbourhood to express their views about the site,

and then helped paint panels that incorporate their words into this effervescent artwork. The on-site social club for workers and neighbourhood residents remained active until the turn of the century. This story inspired Jacqueline Donachie to make a sculpture, Beautiful Sunday, to ‘celebrate all the dance floors of Folkestone’. These were marked out, scaled one to one, on the surface of a platform she set up in the middle of the site. The accompanying film showed on a LED screen documented a line dance indigenous to Glasgow, the artist’s hometown, called The Slosh. The aluminium poles and acrylic green sheets of Jyll Bradley’s highly personal sculpture Green/Light (for M.R.) 2014 were designed to catch the light, and their circular footprint was the same as that of one of the

demolished gas holders, a memory of its cylindrical shape. The outer square was set out as a hop field, the poles and twine drawing on Kent’s historic agriculture and the artist’s childhood memories. In the Sassoon Gallery within Folkestone’s Central Library, the VR experience The Terrarium by Shezad Dawood explored issues around climate change, migration and mental health. It placed the viewer 300 years in the future, the surface of planet Earth is 90% water and the human race has mutated and participants find themselves inhabiting a cephalopod body released from an experimental laboratory into the open seas. Walking back to Foord Road South, the original Milky Way, visitors found the Islamic Cultural Centre, that occupies a building that once had a huge water wheel to drive its mill – one of the most important industrial sites in Folkestone. For Folkestone Triennial, its forecourt and façade were dominated by an artwork in the shape of an imposing lantern, Nũr. The artists worked with the Madrasa and wider Islamic community to develop the designs for the lantern. Ceramic sculptures of Pills by Stephenie Bergman marked the entrance to the Harbour Medical Practice, which is used by many people whose first language is not English. These beautifully made sculptures were a light-hearted reminder that before the development of literacy and commercial graphic signs, buildings of every kind would identify themselves by displaying objects outside the door. Following Tontine Street, then entering Payers Park, Gilbert & George’s CHAIN BRAIN 2019 embraced the back corner of the Quarterhouse building. The artists’ faces peered out from a colourful pattern composed of dead leaves and decorative chains suggesting human figures. Wearing chains as a fashion statement has been a part of contemporary life since the 1970s, and symbolically evokes a lack of freedom. Mill Bay was named for the watermills and industry based there, industry that no doubt contributed to the beginnings of the challenges of climate change. At the seaward end of the Harbour Viaduct, Mike Stubbs’ Climate Emergency Services is a customised vehicle whose imagery dramatised the role of fossil fuels in climate change while playing with the value hierarchies of the motor industry.

Morag Myerscough, Flock of Seagulls Bag of Stolen Chips 2021. Photo by Thierry Bal

At the entrance of the harbour arm, the roll-on roll-off ferry ramp was the epicentre of Folkestone’s economy for a period of forty years in the last century and its connectedness to continental Europe. Surface Flows by Tina Gverović consisted of images of floating clothing, incised into the surface of the ramp reminding the viewer of different scenarios such as the flow of people and goods around the world or the wastage of natural resources created by the fashion industry’s production of clothing designed for single use.

“Incredibly proud of everything Folkestone is becoming.” - George, Local Resident

The tour then took visitors to the Harbour Arm which is a prime example of the transformation of Folkestone’s industrial infrastructure for postindustrial purposes. The place had been adopted by skaters as a gathering place and the artist group Assemble took this as an opportunity to collaborate with local skaters to make it more appealing by developing ‘skateable sculptures’. These Skating Situations also paid tribute to Folkestone’s Olympic-standard indoor skate park, F51. The finish was marked by Atta Kwami’s Atsia fu fe agbo nu (Gateways of the Sea) 2020 located at the entrance to the Harbour Arm and which reminded the viewer of a triumphal arch. The archway the artist designed was both architecture and colourful painting to capture the excitement of a place characterised by coming and going, where people meet at the edge of the sea.

Atta Kwami, Atsiaƒu ƒe agbo nu (Gateways of the Sea) 2020. Photo by Thierry Bal

Assemble, Skating Situations 2021 (Detail). Photo by Thierry Bal

HoyCheong Wong, Simon Davenport and Shahed Saleem NŪR 2021. Photo by Thierry Bal