Topiary Social Club

Taking up a residency at CT20’s Folkestone studios in early 2022, following a period of research into the town’s social clubs, on Sunday 17th July, Chilean artist Paulina Martínez Marín staged her first intervention.

Meeting at Sunny Sands Beach for the first open meeting of the Topiary Social Club, an amateur social club that seeks to generate membership among the topiary balls of Folkestone, she invited residents of Folkestone to join her for a game of beach bingo. Against the backdrop of the ocean, Paulina chatted with curious onlookers before the game started, and after a few bathing breaks a tied match had been decided, with the winner awarded a prize of an inflatable dolphin.

Aiming to bring together the people of Folkestone and establish a new social club inspired by the communities she’d encountered in the town’s clubs and open spaces, after the second open meeting of Topiary Social Club, the artist teamed up with Cheriton’s Community Network to form The Topiary Room. On Friday 12th August, a small group of social club members and Folkestone residents met to discuss their experiences participating in clubs and the importance of belonging, with an aim to give advice to the Topiary Social Club.

Gallery image credits: Nina Shen-Poblete

Residency Programme:

Open Club #1

Eyes down: Sun 17 Jul, 5.30pm @ Sunny Sands Beach

Open Club #2

Eyes down: Sun 31 Jul, 4.30pm @ Sunny Sands Beach

The Topiary Room

Live broadcast: Fri 12 Aug, 3pm @ The Community Network, Cheriton

Open Club #4

Eyes down: Sun 14 Aug, 5pm @ Sunny Sands Beach

Paulina Martínez Marín is a visual artist and community psychologist from Chile. Her practice entails arts and social processes, exploring different ways of moving with other spaces, objects and/or beings. She tends to do this through play, absurdity and collaboration, seeking to trigger complicity with others, provoke ways of relating to each other and flirt with new ways of inhabiting.