In response to the question “What’s happening, exactly?” posed by Folkestone Fringe, and as part of the MagiC Carpets platform, Pent Happenings comprises a series of audio-visual artworks, workshops and events drawing on field studies, geo-scientific data and research concerning Folkestone’s Pent stream and its environs.
The Pent stream descends from the chalk hills of the Folkestone downs and meets the sea at Folkestone Harbour. En route it flows between and beneath properties in the district of Foord – a community which has experienced extreme flooding on at least four occasions in the past 120 years.
A range of outcomes explore what is ‘happening’ in the locality and aim to facilitate our engagement with the natural environment. These include:
- Borehole Studies – Exploring local geological records
- Flow Rate Event – Participant-led task to collect river flow rate data
- Flow Rate – Sonification of flow rate data from the Flow Rate Event
- Pent Sounds – Sound mapping the Pent stream
- Pent Stream – Sonification of real-time river level data
- Pent Stream LIVE – Live online broadcast of Pent Stream
Pent Happenings was exhibited at the Urban Room as part of Folkestone Fringe’s Festival of Looking in October 2020, and again in conjunction with the launch of the Folkestone Triennial in 2021 alongside work by visiting artist-in-residence Mary Conroy (IE).
This project, hosted by Folkestone Fringe, is part of the “MagiC Carpets” Platform co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. This project has generously been supported by Arts Council England.