Folkestone Fringe, 2025
Folkestone Fringe, 2025
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Folkestone, UK, is a seaside town, with a bustling art scene known for its ambitious international Triennial programme. In 2025, we were thrilled to present The Body Room at Folkestone Fringe, an art festival which accompanies the Folkestone Triennial programme.
Taking The Body Room to the High Street
Taking The Body Room to the High Street
We were generously supported by Fourth Wall Folkestone CIC who let us takeover their prime location on the Old High Street in Folkestone, a central throughway leading visitors to the town down to the harbour. It represented a fantastic opportunity for us to test how we could reach a broader audience in a public setting.
An inviting space
An inviting space
We presented a bright welcoming entrance and windows to the street, engaging the passing audience. Alongside this we created a multi-functional creative zone, which could be used for our core practice of hosting private solo guests, as well as public engagement.
New merch ...
New merch ...
It might sound surprising but our logo-branded uniform plays an important role in establishing an environment of trust with our guests and the public.
Guests loved their private appointments
Guests loved their private appointments
Our guests complete a pre and post appointment questionnaire, which is vital to how we shape the project and share the story of The Body Room with a broader public. The first question asks how our guests found their appointment and every single guest in Folkestone gave us 5 stars! They also shared some pretty special reflections on the experience and each day we added some excerpts to our windows.
Hosting public drop-in hours
Hosting public drop-in hours
We were thrilled to open The Body Room to the public for six days of drop-in hours. There was space to sit down and rest, read about the story and themes of the project and of course the opportunity to play, draw, paint and explore in an open, communal manner.
Adults occupying The Body Room surface
Adults occupying The Body Room surface
Our evening drop-in hours were popular allowing adults a chance to experiment with different materials and mark-making over a large surface. Visitors responded to marks on the surface in a playful and intuitive manner, building a communal undirected work.
and they shared their experience on social media too.
Children loved it too ...
Children loved it too ...
During daytime hours, children could enjoy our setup. Parents loved sinking into our armchair with a cup of tea and watching the creation unfold, or joining in too. There were lots of comments about how wonderful the large work surface was and how uninhibited the kids could be about really getting messy!
Drop-in hours were always hosted by two facilitators, predominantly us the co-founders, but in this edition we also tested out how we could have train facilitators to help us with this work.
Holding space for practitioners
Holding space for practitioners
We have long known what a powerful concept The Body Room can be for practicing artists and in this edition we wanted to step further into the realm of 'artist development' both for ourselves and others. For our first 'Practitioners' Meet', we brought together a small group of artists who all work with themes of the body and/or holding space, for an informal evening of conversation, making, performance, sharing knowledge and building connections across our respective disciplines. The atmosphere was magical, alive with deep provocative thought and immersion in the many themes rasied by The Body Room.
An interactive zine
An interactive zine
For the conclusion of Folkestone Fringe we contributed an interactive zine to the 'Hands That Make Community Studio' exhibition. Made from portions of work donated anonymously by our guests at The Body Room, it quietly shared insights and words from our guests with a broader audience.
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