Hello! Hello! Hello! Welcome to the “The Other Folkestone Triennial”

Think of it at as an open ended, playfully mischievous creative endeavour of sorts for the people of this brilliant little town by the sea. I have no idea where it’ll go or how it’ll pan out, but I’ve been thinking it would be fun to do something daft together as a community.

So let’s start with a simple question. If you were given the opportunity. What would you create for this town? A mural? A sculpture perhaps or some form of installation? A performance or experience? An intervention? A demonstration? Maybe you’d just like to fill in some pot holes or plant some trees? Let’s not get bogged down in practicalities or tiresome details such as money, health and safety etc. Let’s begin with play and day dreaming. I’m genuinely curious to see what we could come up with. It might just fall flat on its face or just lead to a discussion and an exchange of ideas and concepts. But perhaps it could lead to something more?

Please post your ideas on social media using the hashtag #theotherfolkestonetriennial

But lets not rely on the old socials. That’s such a bore. Share them with each other in the pub, over a coffee or a walk around the harbour. Perhaps bring them to one of the “Thingy’s” I’ll be organising over the coming weeks and months around town…

Thingys and Stuff…

Over the past year we’ve held a couple of “Thingy’s” at the Urban Room with support from Folkestone Fringe. These sessions were designed to be curious and playful discussions around public art in this town. 

They were insightful as much as they were daft and delightfully subversive. It brought together people to answer the question “What would you create for Folkestone if you were given the opportunity?” From seagulls made of chips to giant political quilts and a Southern Water Sh*t Monster, the ideas and conversations bounced all over the shop. We discussed how art is “used” and “utilised” in this town for better or worse. What’s its purpose? Who is it for? Do people even care? We ventured into the realms are arts education, being told “you can’t draw” by tyrant art teachers and the joys of sitting in an empty cardboard. Despite having zero budget and a lot of imagination there were some tangible ideas that could come to fruition so we continue to plot and await to hear news of what Creative Folkestone will pull out of the bag for 2025…

More silliness, scheming and monsters to come!