Richard Wilson

Buy the Triennial Catalogue

118 pages documenting the 2008 Folkestone Triennial.
Find out more

2008 Triennial Map

18 Holes, 2008. Photograph © Thierry Bal

Title: 18 Holes
Location: Coastal Promenade, below Leas Cliff Hall at sea level

The former Rotunda Amusement Park, typical of seaside towns from Blackpool to Coney Island, is the inspiration for Richard Wilson’s 18 Holes. The dysfunctional and long overgrown crazy golf course was the only remnant of the otherwise erased park.

Wilson’s herculean project of cutting, lifting, restoring and reassembling the eighteen weighty concrete slabs is a tribute to the memory of this former popular tourist attraction. Wilson’s three ‘crazy’ beach huts are installed only a few hundred metres away from their original site and alongside the existing rather bunker-like Folkestonian beach huts.

About Richard

photo: Miyako Narita

Born U.K, 1953. Lives and works in London.

Richard Wilson is one of Britain’s most renowned sculptors. He is internationally celebrated for his interventions in architectural space which draw heavily from the worlds of engineering and construction for their inspiration. Wilson has exhibited widely nationally and internationally for over thirty years.

Recent solo shows include

Turning the place Over, Lead work for Year of Culture – Liverpool 2007
Galleria Fumagalli, Bergamo – Italy 2007
Curve Gallery, Barbican Art Centre – London 2006
Bank Job, Caveau, Palazzo delle Papesse Contemporary Art centre – Italy 2004

Recent group exhibitions include

Royal Academy Summer Show – Royal Academy 2007
Butterfly, Platform China – Beijing China, 2006
Break Neck Speed, Yokohama Triennal – Yokohama, Japan 2005

Wilson was nominated for the Turner Prize on two occasions and was awarded the DAAD Fellowship in Berlin 1992/93. Wilson was made a Royal Academician in 2006.

Acknowledgments
David Bowen and Tony Hatton