Run from the flaming van of the apocalypse! Folkestone Triennial review

With its line-dancers, good behaviour zones and abstract skatepark, the Kent extravaganza is big on fun. So thank goodness for the incendiary installations hammering us with home truths

In seaside Folkestone on one of the hottest days of the year, the ethereal glitter of the English Channel merged with the empty azure sky. So why did an artwork by Mike Stubbs have to spoil it? That flaming van was a low blow. But there it was, parked on the quay, painted hot-rod red, yellow and black with images of blazing forests. It is called Climate Emergency Services and is even equipped with a gun, perhaps for shooting down denial.

Stubbs demonstrates that it does not always pay to be subtle. I had my appreciation of a sunny day suddenly ruined by his crudely powerful reminder that our weather is no longer natural. But Climate Emergency Services is also a challenge to much of the other art in this three-yearly festival of public art in a chaotically lovely town. Art today is at a crossroads: has it got the right to be sophisticated entertainment or should it be hammering us with home truths?

The Folkestone Triennial runs from 22 July until 2 November

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Published on July 20, 2021 09:39
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