Affirmation/Transformation: Fandom Created
August 23 – December 21, 2024
Haggerty Museum of Art
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
marquette.edu/haggerty
Cheeseheads, Swifties, Beatlemaniacs, Trekkies, Whovians, Potterheads, Beyhive, the Cenation, ARMY. People are fans of all sorts of things. But what makes someone a fan? Is there a difference between enjoying something and being a fan of that thing?
“Affirmation/Transformation” considers “creation” as the line between casual enjoyment and fandom. Fans are not passive; fans create. Using pieces from the Haggerty Museum of Art’s permanent collection, “Affirmation/Transformation” looks at the types of things that fans are inspired to create and asks the viewer whether these fan creations are affirmational or transformational—that is, do they affirm the fan object as it is, or transform it into something new? Do fan creations uphold the canon of the original content, or do they take only what they need and leave the rest behind? Is it possible that all fan creations hold both at the same time?
Read more here: https://www.marquette.edu/hagg…/affirmation-transformation
[Image: Mark Heresy, American, b. 1965, Will to Power, 1992. Ink on paper, 28 x 22 inches, 2000.11.5, Gift of Peter Norton, Collection of the Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University.]
