The PLOT

THE PLOT...

thickens.

Plot, Spot, Jump, Drop...and Land here

Folkestone 2021

X marks the Plot 2021

The historical development of the seaside resort in Britain has promoted an alternative kind of possibility

in which different elements combine to provide an alternate reality for both inhabitants and visitors.

This space has traditionally been configured around the dynamic excitements of holiday, cure, therapy and recreation.

The experience of light, space and freedom has been associated with powerful

feeling of discombobulation and excitement; things are slightly unstable and anything is possible.

This is a sort of expansive sensory distortion of space-time. How exciting!

It is not possible to simultaneously and exactly capture the intersection of both position, and the speed of movement.

We know this from the relative ambiguity of quantum physics.

This is ironic in relation to coastal areas, which have been so carefully charted and mapped throughout history.

The best we can do is plot a spot; and mark it, as an expression of movement, as a shift. In the 1930s,

the visiting European modernists recognised the British evolution of the seaside resort as both hedonistic

and uniquely democratic.

Nowadays, the light and space of the seaside provide a special context for the development of therapeutic practices

beyond the usual configurations of scientific-management and its associated disciplinary structures.

Here is a space, by the sea, where community, environment, intelligence, discovery, and pleasure, each combine to suggest a different

world, and a different way of living;

X marks the plot; a set of feelings associated with the heightened experience and emotional reality

of the seaside.

A sort of quantum energy of being...

Plotting and mapping are connected. In the old days, it was easy; people and things stayed were they were.

Nowadays, things move about in relation to each other. X no-longer marks a spot; it marks a movement. It's dynamic.

Paul Klee describes 'a line is a dot that went for a walk' and maybe we can join those dots.

We want to show a glimpse of the 'plotting' that we have been doing

since settling here in Folkestone.

allotment webpage is here

Voltaire invites humankind to 'tend your garden'

Allan Jenkins has been writing from Plot 29

he describes the healing properties of gardening,

'the place to turn to when words, memories and worlds overwhelm..

silent songs of peace'

Many will attest to these wisdoms and truths.

This 1940's u-tube video from the IWM shows the whole family

'Digging for Victory' - of course it goes without saying that we hope

you will ignore the jingoism of the era and embrace the social ethos.

Here is our beermat / coaster for the occasion, for all beverages.

We have produced one for each of the four Arts Triennials in Folkestone.

There are also some vinyls in neighbouring shop windows in the Old High Street

Karen's design uses classic Bauhaus colours

and a VERY limited edition woven patch to sew/iron onto your hats, bags and basically anything

to show you were here in 2021

As part of our Triennial contribution we shall be organising our shop windows as adjacent plots -

one GREEN and one BLUE (land and sea).

Rachel Carson, marine biologist and author writes in 1951:

'To the human senses, the most obvious patterning of the surface waters is indicated by color.

The deep blue water of the open sea far from land is the color of emptiness and barrenness;

the green water of the coastal areas, with all its varying hues, is the color of life.'

We have invited our artist friend Sonia McDuff to curate the blue plot

(on view in shop window until 31 August)

here is our GREEN curation (with some things you can buy from the shop!)

We are delighted to connect our plotting to Jacqueline Poncelet's beautiful

(blue facing the sea and green facing the land) Shimmera on the new 'sheds' behind our shop.

to return to index page - please click here

to return to official Folkestone Triennial 2021 page - please click here