Colorful Artworks Enliven English Town For The 2021 Folkestone Triennial

The Folkestone Triennial is an ambitious public art event that occurs in the seaside town of Folkestone, Kent every three years.

For the fifth edition of the town’s triennial of public art, organizers have commissioned 23 works by 25 artists. 

Curated for the third time by Lewis Biggs, the 2020 Triennial, entitled The Plot, invites visitors to consider urban myths and their relation to verifiable realities.

Located in the seaside town of Folkestone on the southeast coast of England, artists are invited to use the town as their ‘canvas’, utilizing public spaces to create striking new pieces that reflect issues affecting both the town and the wider world.

The triennial's installations seek to engage directly with the Folkestone community in order to give them a sense of ownership over the artworks, a number of which will remain in place even after the event.

The triennial was postponed, but the pandemic context has made people “more willing to slow down and take notice of their physical surroundings,” adding that the public is “searching for color and life-affirmation” that the exhibition offers.

The exhibition is on view throughout the coastal town through November 2.

The Creative Foundation is a UK charity dedicated to art and culture based in Folkestone, Kent, UK. It is responsible for the Creative Folkestone Triennial, the Quarterhouse (a theatre and event space), and Folkestone's Creative Quarter. The trust was set up to demonstrate how creative activity can help make Folkestone a better place better to live, work, play and visit. In 2008, it organized the first Folkestone Triennial, the UK’s largest exhibition of newly commissioned public art.