The dates and a detail or two in terms of the 2025 Folkestone Triennial have just been announced. One of our favourite art festivals here at Organ, it kind of got knocked off track by the damn pandemic back there, we expect the festival and the Fringe to be a more than healthy part of next year’s summer – “We are delighted to share the dates for the 2025 Folkestone Triennial and to reveal the themes and ideas behind the sixth edition. Folkestone Triennial 2025 will take place from Saturday 19 July to Sunday 19 October 2025 bringing ambitious new commissions by leading UK and international artists to public spaces across the town”.

Directed for the first time by Sorcha Carey, we are told that next year’s Triennial “will dig deep into the geology and geography of Folkestone, excavating the bedrock and bonebeds which have shaped the origins of human settlement in the town. The 2025 Triennial will take residents and visitors alike on a journey into Folkestone’s deep past”.

“The themes for 2025 can now be shared. Experts trace the origins of the name Folkestone to ‘Folca’s stone’, referencing a stone which acted as a meeting point in the landscape for the wider community. The name Folkestone (Folcastan’) is attested as early as the 7th century AD, though the origins of human settlement on this spot date back to as early as 4000 BCE, when stone age people first began to settle and cultivate crops and animals.  Previous editions of Folkestone Triennial have focused on the histories and geographies of Folkestone in its heyday, from the early Victorian period through to the first and second world wars and more modern contemporary history.  This edition, yet to be named, will look even further into the past.

Carey, who was previously the director of Edinburgh Art Festival and is now the Director of Collective explains: “In digging into the soil, I’m interested to think about how some of Folkestone’s deep histories can offer a space to reflect on contemporary concerns: from migration to the climate crisis, from how we form communities to our relationship to landscape. To think of the deep past depends on a leap of the imagination.  The triennial invites artists to respond to the place and context of Folkestone, to reflect on human connections to and with the land, and out of the deep past to imagine new futures”

A full list of artists will be announced in Spring 2025 and will feature both established and emerging artists from across the UK and around the world. Each artist will respond to Folkestone; its landscape and its histories, to create new work that will inspire possible futures for the town.

Alastair Upton, Chief Executive Creative Folkestone, said “We are thrilled to be able to announce the dates for the next Folkestone Triennial.  We are energised to be working with Sorcha as curator to develop a new theme and concept for our exhibition and to inspire our communities, local, national and international, who will engage with the event next year. I look forward to sharing the full plans in 2025 and welcoming everyone to the south coast next summer.”

The hugely popular art event is a chance to enjoy a culturally minded summer weekend in the seaside town. Visitors to Folkestone Triennial are invited to experience a range of contemporary art works that offer new perspectives on a town recently voted the Best Place to Live in the Southeast”.

We’ve always enjoyed both the Fringe and the Folkestone Triennial itself, as an artist I’ve taken part in the Fringe in terms of the #43Leaves art drop pieces and as part of the Art Car Boot Fair. I like that art from the previous Triennials is there waiting to be explored, that the back catalogue is building, those Richard Woods Houses. Here are one or two images from our previous visits…

Find previous Folkestone coverage here or www.creativefolkestone.org.uk

As always, do click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show…