Folkestone Rock
Photo of the end of the rock seat, showing the illuminated Folkestone letters.
View of the gallery window with the Folkestone Triennial and Strange Cargo exhibition information.
Photo detail of the label on the rock seat. This is a copy of the original Rowlands Confectionery label.
In 2011 the Folkestone Triennial theme was A Million Miles From Home and as part of this event Strange Cargo Arts hosted an exhibition called Everywhere Means Something To Someone, a people's guidebook to Folkestone. The exhibition at the George’s House gallery in the Old High Street was creating a front room where you could sit and relax while you flicked through the stories and photos in the guidebook.
For the exhibition, Mooch donated an artwork of a stick of rock with FOLKESTONE written on both ends which flashed the red letters on and off. It was designed to be a seat and was a memento of the Rowlands Rock Shop which was in the Old High Street opposite George’s House. The flashing lights refer to the many amusement arcades which used to be in this tourist part of town and the seat helps you stop, look and observe your surroundings. Always worth doing in seaside towns.
This artwork was originally made in 1999 as part of a cabinet making course that Mooch’s Director, Theresa Smith, was studying at the time and featured in several other exhibitions, including being displayed in The Chambers Coffee Shop in the town centre.
