See pictures and video from Folkestone Triennial

Published: 18 June 2008 16:30
Author: James Pallister
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Last Updated: 19 June 2008 10:50
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The AJ took a trip around Folkestone, Kent, to take in the artwork at the Folkestone Triennial. See pictures and video here.

Author: James Pallister.

Disco Mechanique, David Batchelor
Our first stop was at The Metropole, one of Folkestone's two grand hotels.
Its neighbour The Grand is famous as a getaway of King Edward VII and his mistress Mrs Alice Keppel.
The installation of rotating sunglass clusters is in one of the main front rooms looking out on to the sea

Tales of Time and Space, Ivan and Heather Morrison
Just outside the Metropole, this souped-up Green Goddess is a mobile science fiction library.
The wood is harvested from the artists' arboretum in Wales

Kiosk5:KiteKiosk by Nils Norman with Gavin Wade with Simon and Tim Bloor
A replica of a Lubetkin kiosk from Dudley Zoo, inside it sells...

...Kites!
with a slogan that cocks a snook at arts-based regeneration strategies. I bumped into Norman later and he told me the 'HIPSTERIZATION STRATEGIES' slogan is borrowed from Richard Florida, the sociologist who coined the term 'creative class'. Florida argued that the 'creative class' is a crucial driver of the regeneration of urban centres, a position Norman refutes, arguing that strategies to attract that class normally serve only to intensify wealth inequality

Flying
Over the English Channel. France is visible if you squint hard enough

Folk Stones, Mark Wallinger
The 3 x 3m square is made up of 19,240 stones, the same number of Allied servicemen who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Folkestone was the point of departure for thousands of soldiers bound for France in the First World War

Racinated, Privet, Richard Wentworth
Ten of these little blue signs – 'an antidote to shouty mueseum signs' – give information about 'non-native' trees that were originally introduced from other countries. As Wentworth was telling a group of assembled journalists about the signs – 'there are very few locations where it is legal to screw something onto a wall' – a purple VW Polo sped by, its occupant shouting out 'C**t!' at the group. He didn't miss a beat...

Barking Rocks, Pae White
This is a play-park for dogs. See below for a video of Mylo the performing dog larking around while White explains the installation

18 Holes, Richard Wilson
A series of huts made from the remnants of a crazy golf course

Baby Things, Sock, Tracey Emin
One of Emin's sculptures of discarded baby clothes. The pieces are cast in bronze in a foundry in Bow, London. Though they are shown here in their close-up glory, these pieces are actually quite tricky to find, well-placed for the unsuspecting passer-by to stumble upon

And the lady herself...
Though she refused to give a definitive answer to whether Folkestone had better fish and chips than her home town of Margate, Emin told the AJ that she thought Folkestone's infrastructure – its high-speed rail link to London will be completed next year – and its sensitive and integrated approach to regeneration meant that its arts prospects had a brighter future than its Kentish rival

Welcome to Folkestone Harbour
The dilapidated harbour station

Panorama of the Folkestone Harbour
Foster + Partner's masterplan will see the construction of a university building to the right of this picture

Looking north from Folkestone Harbour station

Foreshore, Robert Kusmirowski
Only visible to the keen-eyed, this is a recreation of the remnants of an (albeit very sparse) fish market

Two of the local residents...

...and another

Baby Things, Jacket, Tracey Emin
The Jacket overlooks the Harbour and the perculiarly shaped 'Burstin' hotel on the sea front, visible on the horizon of the picture

Entangled, Ayse Erkmen
The Turkish artist's installation is in one of the Martello Towers, sentry points dating to the Napoleonic wars

Workshop, the 'creative quarter'
One of the properties in the midst of renovation by Roger de Haan's Creative Foundation

Baby Things, Glove, Tracey Emin
One of Emin's works, placed on a railing, out of harm's way

Heaven is a Place where Nothing ever Happens, Nathan Coley

Porkers
Not an art installation, but an amusing detail nevertheless

Back to the train station...
With a reminder to come back

See pictures and video from Folkestone Triennial

The AJ took a trip around Folkestone, Kent, to take in the artwork at the Folkestone Triennial. See pictures and video here.

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