Project implementation

Careful preparation and planning were crucial if this new project was to capture the support and commitment of artists and to open on schedule.

Mobile Gull Appreciation Unit, 2008. Photo by Thierry Bal.

Getting it right

Time was tight in which to organise a major international exhibition in an English town which had never experienced an event of this kind.  Andrea Schlieker’s aim was to create an exhibition which was at the same time both of the highest quality and accessible. Drawing on her very considerable international experience and an impressive address book of the leading contemporary artists working in a variety of media including film, geography, history and people photography, sound, installations, performance and sculpture, she set about developing an ambitious programme.

‘The Triennial,,’ said Andrea Schlieker, ‘is for the people of Folkestone just as much for the international art world. . . We wanted to make this exhibition fit Folkestone like a glove.’ For many of the carefully selected group of artists who would be invited to participate, Folkestone was an unknown and Schlieker recognised the need provide artists with as much information and support as they required in order to encourage their participation.  An important early task, therefore, was to prepare a detailed artists’ brief which as well as setting out the basic data about the Triennial, included a description and history of the town, The aim of this critically important document, which would be sent out with the invitation to participate, was to capture the imagination and the commitment of 30 invited artists and persuade them to make an exploratory visit to Folkestone.

The time and effort that went into preparing the brief proved a valuable investment. From March to August of 2006, 26 of the 30 invited artists came to the resort to discover Folkestone for themselves.  Their response was enthusiastic and encouraging.  As a result, much of the work in the Triennial reflected a creative response both to specific sites, often chosen by artists themselves and to Folkestone’s past, present and future - connections with Europe, immigration, seaside holidays, retirement, ornithology, regeneration and social issues. As the detail of artists’ proposals began to emerge so too did the character of the first Triennial as a whole – Tales of Time and Space.   

All this took time, energy and considerable personal involvement – ‘proposals were researched, budgeted, their feasibility tested, and in some case, after lengthy processes, rejected as too costly or technically unachievable” (Folkestone Triennial catalogue, 2008, page 28).  The final result was an exhibition involving 27 artists (some working collaboratively) and the creation of 22 new works, some like Seija Kamaric’s posters and photographs and Richard Wentworth’s Racinated plant labels being seen in multiple sites.

All the works were completed on schedule, enabling the Triennial’s 120-page catalogue, including installation shots of all the work in situ, to be available on the opening day, 14 June 2008.  The Triennial closed three months later, on 14 September. 

The press and media response, local, national and international, was considerable and “95% positive” - ‘inspired and bound to change perceptions of Folkestone dramatically’, wrote Rachel Cooke in The Observer; ‘Witty, thoughtful and definitely worth a day at the seaside’ was the verdict of Adrian Searle in The Guardian.  Edwin Heathcote in The Financial Times described the open air exhibition as ‘the most refreshing show of public art I think I have ever seen. I can’t recommend it enough’. All this was excellent for promoting Folkestone’s national and international image.