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Folkestone Triennial - Gold Rush

Date uploaded: August 29, 2014

The Berlin-based artist Michael Sailstorfer has buried 30 pieces of 24-carat gold under the sand of the Outer Harbour beach, as part of a project for the Folkestone Triennial 2014 entitled 'Folkestone Digs'. The beach, which becomes covered at high tide, is open to the public and visitors are welcome to dig for gold, or to watch the hunt take place. The project was produced by Situations. 

Born in 1979, Michael Sailstorfer lives and works in Berlin. Though the artist’s range of artistic processes spans highly elaborate productions to near-imperceptible interventions, a common factor across his work is the disruption of the everyday.

Previous works have included painstakingly collecting fallen autumn leaves, painting and refastening them back onto the tree to simulate a premature spring and enacting a process of ‘cabin cannibalism,’ feeding the rotting wooden walls of a small chalet to the woodburner within, until nothing remained in the landscape but the burning stove.

For more information, updates and visitor information on the other works in the Triennial click here.

Photo Credit: Steve Tanner

Photo Credit: Steve Tanner