Folkestone Triennial

Christian Boltanski

Title: The Whispers
Location: West End of The Leas

Christian Boltanski's contribution to the Triennial is a sound installation sited at four benches on the Leas. The sound is triggered when visitors sit down. The voices heard are reading letters to and from servicemen of the First World War. Having passed through Folkestone on their way to the battle-fields in France and Belgium, the town became a poignant site for the soldiers in these personal and intimate reflection on love and separation in the midst of war. The letters have been presented to the Triennial by the people of Folkestone and they are read by the people of Folkestone.

Translated text about each of the artworks into French, Turkish and Slovak can be found on the events page or from the visitor centre

Christian's Biography

Born France, 1944. Lives and works in Paris.

Christian Boltanski works with the ephemera of the human experience, dealing with questions of death, memory, and loss. Known for a body of work that may be considered an archive of our social, cultural, ethnic, and personal histories, Boltanski is one of France’s most widely exhibited living artists.

Recent solo exhibitions include:

Museo d’Arte Contemporanea – Rome 2006
A.V. Schusev State Museum of Architecture – Moscow 2005
Marian Goodman Gallery – Paris 2005
MACRO Museum of Fine Arts – Boston 2000
Haus der Kunst – Munich 1997

Recent group exhibitions include:

Surprise, Surprise, ICA – London 2006
Dis-assembly, Serpentine Gallery – London 2006
La Force de l’Art, Grand Palais – Paris 2006
Venice Biennale, Venice 1996 and 199

In 2006 Boltanski was awarded the Laureate of the Praemium Imperiale, and in 2001 won the Kaiser Ring, Mochhausmuseum Goslar and the Kunstpreis, given by Nord/LB, Braunschweig, Germany.

See Christian Boltanski's work
www.mariangoodman.com