Folkestone Triennial

Mark Wallinger

Title: Folk Stones
Location: West End of The Leas, close to the William Harvey Statue

19,240 beach pebbles have been numbered and placed in a large square on the Leas. What might at first appear as a senseless act is in fact a subtle memorial, as the number of pebbles equals the number of British and Allied fatalities on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Situated on the Leas, not far from the Road of Remembrance, it marks Folkestone's historical importance as a place from where over one million soldiers left for the battlefields of France and Flanders in the First World War. Wallinger's work is a poignant monument to lives lost on the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.

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

Mark's Biography

Born Chigwell, Essex, 1959. Lives and works in London.

Mark Wallinger is one of Britain's foremost contemporary artists. He is perhaps best known for Ecce Homo, a life-size sculpture of Christ that occupied the 'Fourth Plinth' in London's Trafalgar Square in 1999.

Since the mid-1980s Mark Wallinger’s primary concern has been to establish a valid critical approach to the ‘politics of representation and the representation of politics’ and has often explored issues of the responsibilities of individuals and those of society in his work. Wallinger has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally.

Recent solo shows include

Braunschweig Kunstverein – Germany 2007
The Human Figure in Motion, Donald Young Gallery – Chicago 2007
State Britain, Tate Britain – London 2007
The End, carlier gabauer – Berlin 2007
Threshold to the Kingdom, Convent of St Agnes of Bohemia, National Gallery – Prague 2006
Easter, Hangar Biocca – Milan 2005

Recent group exhibitions include

Sculpture Projects – Münster 2007
Belief – Singapore Biennale 2006
Out of Place, New Art Gallery – Walsall 2006
How to Improve the World, Hayward Gallery – London 2006

Wallinger was awarded the Turner Prize in 2007. In 2001 he represented Britain at the 49th Venice Biennale and was also awarded the DAAD Fellowship.

See Mark Wallinger's work
www.anthonyreynolds.com