Thursday 6th August, 7pm
We are delighted to announce a new book launch by author and journalist James Debens as a part of collaboration with Folkestone publisher Afsana Press.
You are warmly invited to join theatre director and avid reader Giles Croft in conversation with James about his latest book “Old Masters In Marrakesh” still hot of the press. This is his second book after his debut novel “Where is Your God Now” (2021)
James Debens a writer and journalist, currently an editor at Newsweek. After his Classics degree at Gonville & Caius, Cambridge University, and journalism postgraduate qualifications at University of London, James joined the Mirror Group. He has later written for various newspapers and a trio of magazine publishing houses.
Afsana Press an independent publishing house producing sparkling literary works by authors whose stories have a direct relation to social, political or cultural issues in countries and communities around the world.
Our mission is to get to the heart of the urgent matters of our time, and times past, asking important questions about migration and refugees, the environment, gender, development and social justice. Particular attention will go to the work of authors in exile, and our stories often concern the movement of humans in an ever-shifting, dangerous world. All this without taking a certain political direction – we simply want to ask, why, how, where and who, always through profoundly human stories.
Wednesday 29 July
5PM
Join us for a conversation with our Artist of the Month - Lucy Smallbone.
Lucy Smallbone is an artist who specialises in modern landscape painting. Her work looks at the merging of fictional and real space and questions the part that memory and the mind can play in altering a view of a place. Picture plains tilt upwards and vivid colours grow across the surfaces, leaving the paintings floating between figuration and abstraction.
Smallbone is a recipient of such prizes as the Haworth trust grant(2011), the David Balladie travel prize(2009) and travelled to Chernobyl thanks to the Duveen Travel Prize(2016).
Kollectiv is delighted to present the Folkestone premiere of local filmmaker Ben Barton’s new short documentary, which investigates a little-known chapter in the origins of television.
Where did the first-ever television transmission really take place? For 100 years, the accepted story has pointed to Hastings. But beginning with a forgotten plaque right here in Folkestone, Ben follows a trail left behind by inventor John Logie Baird, uncovering evidence that invites us to look again at where TV first sparked to life.
The short documentary blends location with exclusive archive footage unseen for 70 years, along with stunning drone footage (by Alexander Saxby) to explore not only the birth of this world-changing technology, but the way historical narratives are constructed, simplified and sometimes overlooked.
This special Folkestone Film Festival event expands on the short film with a
contextual introduction, featuring archival material on the early development of television, and a live Q&A with the director, discussing the research, discoveries and questions behind the project.
Writer and director: Ben Barton
Camera, drone and editing: Alexander Saxby
The film has been rated certificate U by Folkestone & Hythe District Council.
Director Statement
“This documentary began as a newspaper article in the Folkestone Foghorn, where I investigated where exactly television was invented. But, after publishing the article, I had more to say! TV is a visual medium, and this story felt best told on screen. Alongside the plaque in Folkestone, I uncovered archive footage unseen for over 70 years. Styled like a short magazine TV segment, the film reflects on how history is formed – and what can sometimes be overlooked.”
Friday 4th September 7pm!
Welcome to an evening of underground films by legends from Barrelstout Production /Bev Zalcock and Sara Chambers!
For the first time in Folkestone they will present films from their career spanning more then 50 years. Their short no-budget films show usage of a range of media from Super8, through Digital to Tape/Slide & Stills!! Their inspiration comes from a wide range of cinematic traditions, early cinema, Soviet montage, and American underground film. Bev & Sarah will hold Q&A after the screening.
Thursday 30th July
7pm
Join us for a conversation with writer David Flusfender about his new novel, Something Might Fall.
David Flusfeder has written seven previous novels, including The Gift and John the Pupil; one full-length work of narrative non-fiction, Luck; and an opera, Army of Lovers, in collaboration with the composer Mark Springer. He has been a tv critic for The Times and poker columnist for the Sunday Telegraph, and has contributed stories and journalism to many anthologies and magazines and newspapers. He was born in New Jersey but has lived most of his life in London, and is currently on the East Kent coast. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Kent.
‘Flusfeder’s sinuous prose miraculously crams all the emotional drama of a multivolume family saga into just 80 pages.’ Anthony Cummins, Mail on Sunday
‘a work of genius’, Dawn
‘profoundly dark and fearlessly beautiful’ Express Tribune
Sunday 26 July
2pm
Folkestone gallery kollectiv is delighted to present Juha, a season of exhibitions of work by artists from Central Europe, each supported by a local performance artist and curated by Sammi Gale.
The season continues with Having A Serious Conversation with a Mountain, an immersive exhibition by German-born Folkestone-based artist, Markus Vater. Join us for conversation with Markus Vater and curator Sammi Gale taking you behind the scenes of Markus’ new exhibition.
Acclaimed composer and clarinetist Mark Simpson will respond to Vater’s exhibition with a clarinet performance after the talk.
Markus Vater:
Markus Vater lives and works in Folkstone, London, Essen and Düsseldorf. His artistic practice is diverse and includes: drawing, painting, writing, animation, photography, performance and sculpture.
He has taken part in numerous national and international exhibitions: Among others at the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Museum Gertsch in Switzerland, at the Kunsthalle Mannheim, the Royal Academy in London and more recent at Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf and the Sprengel Museum in Hannover.
Between 1995 and 2003 he was part of the art collective hobbypop Museum. He had shows with Timothy Taylor, Vilma Gold, ibid-projects, Anthony d'Offay and Centre of Attention in London. He is represented by Rupert Pfab Galerie in Düsseldorf. Recent publications are “Objects of Significance”,published by DCV Verlag Berlin.
He has been teaching at the Royal College of Art in London and was Guestprofessor at the HfBK Hamburg and the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe. At the moment he is Professor for Painting/Drawing at the HBK Essen in Germany.
Mark Simpson:
Mark Simpson (b. 1988) is a UK-based composer of an acclaimed body of work and an internationally-renowned clarinettist, whose programmes champion music new and old. His music for the stage, orchestra, voices, and chamber forces has been celebrated by leading conductors, instrumentalists, and ensembles ; across a myriad of forms, poetic intensity is matched by technical assurance and expressive generosity.
Sammi Gale:
Sammi Gale is a curator, poet and the editor of Plinth. His recent poetry pamphlets include Port Folio (Broken Sleep Books, 2025) and Torch Loose Panic (Datableed Editions, 2026). His journalism features in GQ, the i Paper, and Little White Lies. He lives in London.
Friday 24 July 7pm
Desert Island Art is our version of Desert Island Discs but with…(you guessed it!) art. Our guests are asked to choose 8 works of art, a luxury item and a book to take with them on a Desert Island. What a way to get to know a person!
This month we’re inviting our very own, Andrew Ward.
Andrew has lived in Folkestone for five happy years. You are bound to have seen him in kollectiv and probably know he is very keen on music and committed to promoting art and artists whenever he can. But have you any idea where he came from? What was he up to before he made Folkestone his home? And what eight works of art, luxury item and book would he take to a Desert Island?
Come and find out on Friday July 24th at 7:00. You may be surprised!
This is one of our favourite events at kollectiv!
World-renowned novelist and music amateur, Michel Faber shares a selection tracks from his varied record collection - some obscure, some unbelievable, some never to be heard again. Each piece is accompanied by a story stranger than fiction.
Join this listening experience where strangers are brought together through music.
It’s a fun evening where you will be mesmerised.
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