logo
Mutant seabirds, sewer secrets and a lick of art ice-cream: Folkestone Triennial review

Mutant seabirds, sewer secrets and a lick of art ice-cream: Folkestone Triennial review

The Guardian18-07-2025
Folkestone doesn't have a pier. It has an Arm. That's what the harbour's long walkway into the Channel is called. It is a suitably surreal, even grotesque setting for the Folkestone Triennial artworks that infest its salty nooks and crannies – or armpits and elbow crooks. Laure Prouvost has placed a mutant seabird, with three heads and an electric plug on its tail, on the adjacent concrete stump of the defunct ferry terminal. Surprising? Not really if you have just visited The Ministry of Sewers, an installation by Cooking Sections that documents and protests the poisoning of our rivers and seas.
There's nothing like an exhibit on the scale of Britain's water pollution to kick off a day at the seaside. It's cloudy when I visit, the cliffs and sea swathed in white mist and the water under the Arm looking like a detergent soup. It all adds to the uncanny mood. And art doesn't come much more uncanny than the sculpture by Dorothy Cross near the far end of the Arm. You have to go down soaking wet, concrete steps to a recess with a precipitous opening to the evil-looking sea. 'Try not to fall in,' says the attendant, who stays up above. Here you find a massive block of blood-coloured marble, as if a giant tuna steak had been stashed here by fish smugglers. The sides are smooth, the top uneven and rough. Out of this earthy hulk Cross has carved several pairs of feet in hyperrealistic detail, nervously walking its beach-like surface. They face out to sea, as if about to make a bold leap into the blue-green water, to find a better life.
Cross has made a monument to migrants. The marble she has used is from Syria, the feet pattering over it full of fear and hope. These lifelike appendages and the surface on which they stand echo Magritte's surrealist 1934 painting The Red Model, of disembodied feet on red ground, while her use of massive, raw stone to suggest infinite sorrow - the weight of the world - shows she understands Michelangelo. This is a superb sculpture, brilliantly sited. It would be worth visiting Folkestone just to see it.
But there's more – if you fancy a walk. Up above the cliffs, on steep green downs guarded by Martello towers built to fend off invasion during the Napoleonic wars, are a string of thoughtful, often witty artworks. A monolith that looks as if it were made from glue and plastic stands alone on a mowed hill, facing the sea. Approaching, you read the words 'Curse dissolved'. That's heartening. The brochure describes this piece by South African artist Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape as 'meditative' but it made me laugh. What is the curse? Who lifted it?
I chew on this as I climb to a white circular tower inside which Katie Paterson also plays with magic. Paterson shows, on curving display tables inside the round room where red-coated soldiers once lived, a collection of mystic charms from different times and places. There are images of ancient Egyptian gods, Buddhist amulets and a tiny figure of the Mesopotamian demon Pazuzu who features in The Exorcist.
Each replica is cast in materials that bear witness to planetary crisis, including space debris from satellites and plastic from the Mariana trench. Paterson has a track record of working with scientists to get her hands on such exotic materials. Her installation is a more refined version of the Ministry of Sewers, a sly way to show us that we are turning everything to crap. These amulets are bluntly satirical. They seem to mock the magical thinking of those who would wish away the Earth's crisis.
If you head on to the next Martello tower you might be momentarily cheered up by Jennifer Tee's wavy picture of a giant kelp, mapped in the grass in brown bricks which also have sea kelp and other life forms imprinted on their surfaces. It makes you look out to the sea below and imagine the threatened life it holds.
There are jollities to be found in this seaside art trail – for the kids, Monster Chetwynd has started building an adventure playground, and down in the harbour you can get Emeka Ogboh's 'artist designed ice-cream'. But then I find huge burial urns littered in the high moorland overlooking the misty Channel. Sara Trillo has modelled these deathly objects on bronze age grave goods. They return you to melancholy: the view from here is as bleak as it is beautiful.
Folkestone Triennial opens on 19 July
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Son warns of sea risks after father drowns trying to rescue dog
Son warns of sea risks after father drowns trying to rescue dog

BBC News

time2 hours ago

  • BBC News

Son warns of sea risks after father drowns trying to rescue dog

The son of a man who drowned while trying to save their pet has warned others about staying safe in water. Speaking to the BBC in Brighton, Robbie Jones said he wanted to "make a positive difference out of a tragic circumstance". The 28-year-old added one "simple thing" people could do if they got into trouble in the water was float to live, which involves floating with their head back and getting their breathing under control. His warning came as data from the National Water Safety Forum, released on World Drowning Prevention Day, revealed young people aged 10 to 29 account for more than a quarter of accidental drowning deaths in the UK. 'I never saw my father again' Robbie, who has been giving lessons in schools across Sussex and Hampshire, said not enough people knew how to stay safe while added that his dad Gareth Jones, who drowned after trying to rescue their cockapoo Connie from the sea in Hove, might not have died if he had known some survival techniques. "In an ideal world, he would have never entered the water in the first place," Robbie said. "Don't go in after your family pet. That's one of the no-nos." He said that, rather than floating to live, his father panicked. "The whole thing was only 52 seconds and then I never saw my father again," Robbie said, adding that he had seen CCTV footage of what happened."It shows how quickly this can happen if you don't take precautions and safety measures," he said. Their dog Connie was found dead on Brighton Beach on 18 January, while the body of father-of-three Gareth's body was found at Tide Mills, near Newhaven, the following day. When asked if his father would be proud of him, Robbie said: "That's not why I'm doing it."[I want to] turn my grief, which is obviously still very much there, into something worthwhile and [to create] some sort of legacy for my dad."Gabbi Batchelor, water safety education manager for the RNLI, warned there were "hidden dangers" in the sea, like cold shock, rip currents and sudden drops."Floating is a simple, proven method for surviving if you find yourself unexpectedly in the water," she said.

Decorative books that let the shelf-obsessed appear cultured
Decorative books that let the shelf-obsessed appear cultured

The Guardian

time2 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Decorative books that let the shelf-obsessed appear cultured

The article on buying books by the metre to decorate a room ('Look how well-read I am!': How 'books by the metre' add the final touch to your home – or your image, 22 July) reminded me of the famous service offered by Flann O'Brien, writing as Myles na gCopaleen, to those people who wanted to appear cultured but were too busy to read. Levels of book-handling are offered from Popular Handling to Handling Superb, or Le Traitement Superbe. The satirical fantasy is available to read in The Best of Myles. My 1975 Picador copy needs no such service, not because it's been read several times, but because the low standards of British book production mean the pages are browned, the spine is reassuringly cracked, and if I tried to reread it the whole book would fall LancasterPeakirk, Cambridgeshire I bought an original cartoon for my bookshop partner's 50th birthday. A bookstall keeper had a huge notice on his stall. 'Books For Sale! RED ONES, BLUE ONES, GREEN ONES.' But used to it as I was, I was still shocked when people bought sets of leather-bound books to furnish their shelves: Kipling red, Galsworthy dark blue (and much cheaper) Stevenson pale blue. However, beautiful as it was, even non-bookish customers balked at having five yards of The Christian World Pulpit in their SquiresSt Andrews, Fife When I was in practice as a solicitor, I was responsible for my firm's library. In those days, legal textbooks, law reports and books of legislation were substantial and handsome hardbacks. But new editions and replacements were constantly being issued by the publishers. So what to do with the redundant volumes? Fortunately, I found a few local pubs and restaurants that were willing to take a shelfful at a time. Sadly, I was never able to break into television with our old books, but several firms obviously have. Look at any TV drama and if they have bookshelves in a scene, you can almost guarantee that ancient copies of Halsbury's Laws, Halsbury's Statutes, the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents etc will be on HeymansBackwell, Somerset If people are buying 'metres of books' to decorate, how am I going to peruse their bookshelves to see what they are really interested in? That's always been an enjoyable part of visiting someone's home for me. This is possibly one of the dumbest decorating trends I've heard WilliamsNetley Abbey, Hampshire Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

I've found the best supermarket sourdough loaves worth adding to your weekly shop
I've found the best supermarket sourdough loaves worth adding to your weekly shop

The Independent

time3 hours ago

  • The Independent

I've found the best supermarket sourdough loaves worth adding to your weekly shop

Remember a time before sourdough ruled the bakery roost? A simpler time, when tiger bread was a fancy weekend loaf, or a French stick would be a solid go-to. Now, sourdough is everywhere and has even become a status symbol. Some bakeries with cult followings sell out each morning (even on weekdays) and have queues snaking out the doors. So of course, supermarkets had to get in on the action and create their own. Thought to date back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, sourdough isn't new, but what defines it is hard to agree on. ''Sourdough' isn't a legally protected term, so technically any bread can currently be called sourdough,' explains Swie Joo, head baker at The Palmerston restaurant in Edinburgh, which bakes all of its excellent own sourdough onsite in its downstairs bakery. Generally, to be considered a sourdough, the bread must be made with a live sourdough starter (a culture made from natural yeast, not shop-bought, and bacteria) and go through a slow fermentation process. Joo advises checking the ingredients list of a sourdough loaf before you buy because if it has 'yeast' listed, it's not a genuine sourdough, as yeast should not be added. Sourdough is a leavened bread, meaning the dough naturally rises as a result of the natural yeast, creating the distinct air pockets. A well-made sourdough has a good spongy 'crumb' (the bread's internal structure) with evenly sized and distributed air pockets. If fermentation or the bake goes wrong, it can lead to 'tunnelling', where the holes are too large and frequent. In a bid to see if supermarkets could really impress with their sourdough loaves, I taste-tasted my way through more than 20 loaves. Here's how I got on. How I tested First and foremost, I kept the advice from head baker Swie Joo in mind, analysing the ingredient list of each loaf. I then tasted more than 20 loaves, including pre-sliced and non-sliced loaves from all the major supermarkets' own range. I also tested some well-known branded and higher-end options that are available in supermarkets. Where available, I chose a white loaf, so each sample was as similar as it could be. I ate it plain, in sandwiches and as toast with butter. When taste-testing, I considered the below: Crumb: I was looking for a decent crumb (the interior of the bread), which should be spongy, fairly open with evenly sized and well-distributed air pockets. A well-fermented sourdough should have a moderately open crumb with holes and a springy texture. The overall rise was also considered. Crust: I noted the exterior of the bread and whether it had a good crusty crunch. I also considered whether any of the loaves had toppings, such as seeds. Taste: A sourdough loaf is known for its delicate sour and tangy taste, so I assessed how noticeable this was. I also assessed whether the taste leaned towards traditional white sourdough or had earthy, nutty notes typical of a wholemeal loaf. Shelf life: I monitored how long each loaf stayed fresh, noting when signs of staleness and mould appeared. Sourdough tends to last around two to three days before it starts to stale and may show mould after five to seven days. If it lasted longer than this, it may suggest that preservatives were used in the bake. Why you can trust IndyBest reviews Emma Henderson is a self-confessed foodie. She was also the editor of IndyEats, The Independent' s monthly digital food magazine, and was twice shortlisted for 'best food magazine' at the Guild of Food Writers Awards. She's sampled everything from Michelin-recommended menus to the best olive oils, so she knows exactly what is worth savouring. When it comes to sourdough, she's tasted the good, the bad and the questionably stodgy all in the name of journalism. Every loaf in this review has been rigorously tested, from sniffed and sliced to slathered in butter. The best supermarket sourdough bread for 2025 is:

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store