Exhibition identity for Fanspeak
Ring bound exhibition guide, floor plan, and text in red risograph 
Curated by Shy Bairns, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
November 2019

Fan Speak (noun): slang or jargon present in fandom, particularly the acronyms, in-jokes and obscure terms used among readers and writers of science fiction fanzines.

 

Fanspeak featured a collection of artists whose work appropriates fan-like production, emulating the content, objects and homages produced by fans of movies, music, sports, celebrities, and TV shows. Working with sculpture, painting and video, the artists interrogate pop and sub-cultural references in order to disrupt our relationship with them.

 

The printed material created to accompany the exhibition further considers the idea of being a fanatic. Whether online or in real life, collecting ephemera is a large part of fanatic behaviour. Using this idea, three separate elements were created (an exhibition guide, a floor plan, and a commissioned text) and situated at different points in the gallery, placed between artworks so as to physically create the sense of searching, tracking down, finding, and saving important information. Once collected, the material can be bound together with a hinged ring.