Art isn’t just about pretty pictures.

Since its inception in 2008, the Folkestone Triennial has been a contemporary art exhibition which sets out to have an effect beyond the programme itself, changing the character of its home at the same time.

It aims to create a spirit of the place through its artworks, even changing the physical environment, and transforming Folkestone.

One of the 20 works this year celebrates a small patch of land some in the town may not even be aware of.

Composer and sound artist Emily Peasgood’s Halfway to Heaven celebrates the Baptist Burial Ground in Bradstone Road, which was in use between the 1750s and 1855.

The slopes around it were cut away to be developed as terraced housing, while the burial ground remained in place, some 20ft above the road.

Emily, a long-standing Whitstable resident who now lives in Ramsgate, researched some of the people buried there for her interactive audio installation.

Each audio channel is related to a specific gravestone and contains musical quotations from Baptist hymns such as Higher Ground – and they are activated once there is a person standing in front of one of each of the five involved.

Triennial curator Lewis Biggs said: “You need to have five people to make it come alive. It is the community of the dead. It shows how you need other people even when you’re dead and especially when you’re alive. A lot of people who live in Folkestone don’t know this exists. But I make it my business to find these places.”

Among the works dotted around the town and coastline, is Michael Craig-Martin’s composition Light Bulb, which metaphorically lights up the junction of two streets, The Old High Street and Tontine Street.

The brightly coloured bulb is on the curve of the building façade and signifies ideas, energy, enlightenment, which represents the essence of the regeneration in Folkestone’s Creative Quarter.

THE TRIENNIAL

The fourth edition of the Triennial, run by the town’s Creative Foundation, invites artists to work with the cultural history and environment of the town to produce commissioned works for public spaces.

Around 20 major artworks are commissioned for each event, with around eight to 10 staying on in the town. Among the works are Angel of the North sculptor Antony Gormley’s two Another Time figures, Richard Woods’ colourful one third size structures in unusual places, Holiday Home and Amalia Pica’s seashell creations.

The artists involved are Rigo 23, Sol Calero, Michael Craig-Martin, Antony Gormley, Alex Hartley, Lubaina Himid, Emily Peasgood, Diane Dever and the Decorators, Amalia Pica, Marc Schmitz and Dolgor Ser-Od, David Shrigley, Bob and Roberta Smith, Sinta Tantra, Studio Ben Allen, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, HoyCheong Wong, Gary Woodley, Bill Woodrow, Richard Woods, and Jonathan Wright.

DETAILS

The Folkestone Triennial runs until Sunday, November 5. For more details and information on the artists and events go to folkestonetriennial.org.uk