For 100 prosperous years ferries to France were Folkestone’s modus operandi. London-Paris trains would stop at the harbour as steamboats took passengers across the Channel. However, with the advent of the car in the 1960s, the Dover-Calais route proved more popular with drivers. And when the Channel Tunnel opened on the edge of town in 1994, Folkestone lost its principal purpose.
Art was seen as a way to bring life and prosperity back to Folkestone, and while Venice has its Biennale, Folkestone has gone one better with its Triennial. Every three years, the town comes alive as Kent’s answer to Venice with the UK’s biggest show of newly commissioned contemporary art taking place across the town. The first Triennial took place in 2008. This year’s event opened on July 19 and runs until October 19.
