Folkestone’s outdoor public art exhibition – Folkestone Artworks – is the UK’s largest urban outdoor contemporary art exhibition,[1] consisting of 74 contemporary artworks by 46 artists in scenic locations around the town and its coastline. Artworks include those by Lubaina Himid, Tracey Emin, Yoko Ono and Antony Gormley.[2] Folkestone Artworks is refreshed every three years, as permanent works commissioned for the Folkestone Triennial are incorporated. Folkestone Artworks is maintained and cared for by Creative Folkestone on behalf of the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust.[3]
Commissioned artists and their artworks often respond directly to the town of Folkestone itself and with the specific site in mind, reflecting both the town and its community whilst also reflecting broader themes. Creative Folkestone’s CEO, Alastair Upton notes that the artists “work with the grain of the history and the grain of the land to make something and people can come and read that but of course they’re artists so there is a universality".[4]
Notable artworks reflecting this ethos include Sol Calero’s Casa Anacaona, built by the artist working with members of the community as part of the Creative Folkestone Triennial 2017. Lubaina Himid’s Jelly Mould Pavilion, a public pavilion commissioned in 2007, reveals the town’s history with themes of universality whilst also offering shade, opportunities for conversation and invites contemplation on a sandy beach looking out to the sea. Pilar Quinteros's Janus Fortress Folkestone artwork launched in May 2021 is part of the 2021 Folkestone Triennial, 'The Plot' and England's Creative Coast.[5]
Some of the artworks are more of a personal nature, including Tracey Emin’s Baby Things - a seven-part collection of bronze sculptures, including a teddy bear that sits on a platform at Folkestone Central railway station. Mark Wallinger’s Folk Stones reflects a more universal theme, consisting of 19,240 numbered stones, the exact number of soldiers killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916.[6]
A volunteer-led project, Online Placemaking,[7] resulted in all 72 Artworks being geo-located on Google Maps for the first time in March 2021.
| Adam Chodzko | Pyramid | 2008 | |
| Christian Boltanski | The Whispers | 2008 | |
| Mark Dion | The Mobile Gull Appreciation Unit | 2008 | |
| Mark Wallinger | Folk Stones | 2008 | |
| Nathan Colley | Heaven is a Place Where Nothing Ever Happens | 2008 | |
| Pae White | Barking Rocks | 2008 | |
| Patrick Tuttofuoco | FOLKESTONE | 2008 | |
| Richard Wilson | 18 Holes | 2008 | |
| Richard Wentworth | Racinated | 2008 | |
| Tracey Emin | Baby Things | 2008 | |
| A K Dolven | Out of Tune | 2011 | |
| Cornelia Parker | Folkestone Mermaid | 2011 | |
| Cristina Iglesias | Towards the Sound of Wilderness | 2011 | |
| Hamish Fulton | 31 Walks from Water to Water 1971-2010 Made on Western Europe | 2011 | |
| Paloma Varga Weisz | Rug People | 2011 | |
| Ruth Ewan | We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be | 2011 | |
| Spencer Finch | The Colour of Water | 2011 | |
| Tonico Lemos Auad | Carrancas | 2011 | |
| Diane Dever and Jonathan Wright | Pent Houses | 2014 | |
| Ian Hamilton Finlay | Weather is Third to Place and Time | 2014 | |
| Jyll Bradley | Green/Light (for M.R.) | 2014 | |
| Michael Sailstorfer | Folkestone Digs | 2014 | |
| Muf Architecture/Art | Payers Park | 2014 | |
| Pablo Bronstein | Beach Hut in the Style of Nicholas Hawksmoor | 2014 | |
| rootoftwo | Whithervanes: A Neurotic Early Worrying System (NEWS) | 2014 | |
| Sarah Staton | Steve | 2014 | |
| Strange Cargo | The Luckiest Place on Earth | 2014 | |
| Tim Etchells | Is Why The Place? | 2014 | |
| Will Kwan | Apparatus #9 (The China Watchers Oxford University, MI6, HSBC) | 2014 | |
| Yoko Ono | SKYLADDER | 2014 | |
| Yoko Ono | Earth Peace | 2014 | |
| Amalia Pica | Souvenir | 2017 | |
| Antony Gormley | Another Time 1999-2013 | 2017 | |
| Bill Woodrow | The Ledge | 2017 | |
| Bob and Roberta Smith | FOLKESTONE IS AN ART SCHOOL | 2017 | |
| David Shrigley | Lamp Post (as remembered) | 2017 | |
| Diane Dever and The Decorators | Customs House, Urban Room Folkestone | 2017 | |
| Gary Woodley | Impingement No. 66 ‘Cube Circumscribed by Tetrahedron - Tetrahedron Circumscribed by Cube’ | 2017 | |
| Jonathan Wright | Fleet on Foot | 2017 | |
| Marc Schmitz + Dolger Ser-Od | Sire | 2017 | |
| Michael Craig-Martin | Folkestone Lightbulb | 2017 | |
| Richard Woods | Holiday Home | 2017 | |
| Rigo 23 | Through the Glassworks, Earth’s Oldest Satellite, Me and You, Some in Fewture 1990-2017 | 2017 | |
| Sinta Tantra | 1947 | 2017 | |
| Sol Calero | Casa Anacaona | 2017 | |
| Studio Ben Allen | The Clearing | 2017 |