Ostensibly contemporary art biennials seek to engage with the places that host them, yet frequently they are viewed critically as elitist 'art world' events that are disconnected from their localities. The aim of this article is to establish how public art works in a given context, both as part of a format prescribed by the art event and in its potential to intersect with the intricate, contingent and varied constellation of the urban location in question. It addresses this central tension by examining the case of Folkestone, a town on the south Kent coast in the UK that once enjoyed a thriving identity as both seaside resort and gateway to Europe. From the 1960s onwards a gradual decline set in with the advent of mass global travel, culminating in the deathblow that was dealt by the nearby Eurotunnel's inauguration towards century's end, which signalled the end of the town's ferry link to the continental mainland. A concerted attempt has been underway for a decade now to revitalise the town using the arts, creative industries and education as the drivers of regeneration. One of the main initiatives in this endeavour was the introduction in 2008 of the Folkestone Triennial, a three-month summer event in which high-profile international artists were commissioned to produce sited artworks for the town, turning it into a form of urban gallery. With successive Triennials occurring in 2011 and 2014, and several works from all three being retained as permanent acquisitions, this article takes stock of the impact of these artistic engagements with the town, showing how, as an ensemble, they interact with one another and asking whether they have the capacity to contribute to a reconstituted identity for Folkestone in an integrated and lasting way. 2

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F o o tn o t e s b y n i c o l a s W h y b r o W a Or maybe, in the spirit of arrhythmia, that should be 'bum-notes'. Jonathan Heawood points out that according to the OED, 'the term "footnote" came into use around 1841, following a vogue for the phrase "bottom note", which was found misleading' (2004: 18). b In fact, Esther Pilkington and Martin Nachbar's piece-subtitled 'A walk to the theatre in sixteen steps and eighteen footnotes'-employs a related dual-system. To explain the difference, however: the numbered steps in their case form the primary text, while the numbered and lettered asides, both of which appear as footnotes, correspond to the two authorial voices respectively. It is apposite that this piece should adopt such a self-reflexive form since its interrogation of the foot in performance is premised on a notion of the foot before it gets anywhere near the formal space of the theatre itself. Its point of departure is that 'we always arrive at the theatre on foot', therefore a preceding 'journey is constitutive to every theatre event.… The walk to the theatre an anticipation of the event to come'. Ultimately the aim in practice is to investigate the possibility of a choreography in which the 'city seeps into the theatre: can [the act of] walking to the theatre be made to appear?' c Twenty-six letters in the alphabet, twenty-six bones in the human foot, twenty-six footnotes. The adopted method in referencing contributions to On Foot is best described as 'skeletal' (as against a 'fleshed-out' main text): a bare-bones summary that operates largely by filleting select phrases and passages from each piece.

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