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This August, Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone, has transformed their coffee shop and venue entrance for its visitors, transporting them into the venue’s history with fantastic pieces of two dimensional printed and painted artwork that has been installed by Deborah Bowness. The prints are designed to capture the venue’s almost 100-year history and since Folkestone is now known for its creative art culture, what better way to celebrate all the events and performances that have taken place here than with pieces of facts, photos and archived memories dotted around the entrance for visitors to enjoy.
This art project has been possible due to the Cultural Recovery Fund grants programme that was part of the Government’s £1.57 billion package to protect the UK’s culture and heritage sectors from the economic impacts of Covid-19.
Theatre Director, Elizabeth Smith, said ‘We’re delighted to be able to unveil Deborah’s immersive piece of work in our venue entrance and coffee shop. With the building open at least from 10.00 to 16.00 each day there is a huge amount of opportunity for the public to come in, have a walk around and absorb the piece in its entirety, living the venues past in the present day. With work hung from the ceiling, across the furniture, windows, and walls it really is a feast for the senses’
Can you tell us the idea behind the artwork you’ve created at Leas Cliff Hall?
The idea was to bring the stories of the theatre; it’s performers, its workers, the buildings history, and kind of display it all in some way, in an immersive installation for people to absorb themselves in. More like little moments of discovery when you’re walking around the space, you’ll just see little tickets and flyers and things that you’ll think are probably new until you look closely you won’t realise you’re looking at a flyer from the 70’s, you’ll try and pick it up next to the one from next week’s show. So just little surprises that educate the visitor and make them curious about its past and try to tell things that they didn’t really know about that happened in the space as it’s just so full of everything, the people here, their roles and what they bring to the building, not just the performers but the workers.
