Come as you really are: An exciting new collaboration between the National Festival of Making and Blackburn Museum

An exciting new collaboration between the National Festival of Making and Blackburn Museum is bringing a ‘wonderfully eclectic’ exhibition to town – and it’s a must-see!

What do you get when you bring together handmade Spider-Man costumes, pom-pom carpets, firefighters made from citrus peels, and a prized collection of old carrier bags from Blackburn?

That would be Come As You Really Are an eclectic exhibition celebrating hobbies and hobbyists from across Lancashire and the UK, curated by renowned artist Hetain Patel. And this summer, it’s heading our way as part of an exciting new collaboration between the National Festival of Making and Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery.

Commissioned and produced by Artangel – an organisation that presents extraordinary art in unexpected places – it will open over the weekend of the hugely popular, award-winning festival (5th–6th July) and run for more than six weeks.

Each year, the festival transforms Blackburn town centre into an incredible cultural playground, celebrating making—from the kitchen table to the factory floor.

And tens of thousands of people turn out for it, without fail. They come for the talks, the workshops, the pop-ups, and the captivating street performances.

But they especially come for the groundbreaking art installations – installations that wouldn’t ordinarily make it to this part of the world.

Take Hetain. His films, sculptures, live performances, paintings, and photographs have been shown worldwide in galleries, theatres, and on iconic public screens -including Piccadilly Circus in London and Times Square in New York.

They’ve also been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing, and Tate Modern in London.

What connects them all is that they are deeply rooted in Hetain’s personal experiences and those of his immigrant family.

Take, for example, the incredible Spider-Man costumes that he painstakingly creates over months – harking back to his childhood.

I show this stuff in galleries, but even if I didn’t, I would be making all of it anyway,

Hetain says.

My work tends to start from the things I was obsessed with as a kid.

There’s a vulnerability in sharing something so personal, which often happens in private spaces around the responsibilities of daily life.

But there is also tremendous power in sharing collectively, which is at the heart of this project.

When Come As You Really Are debuted in London, it brought together thousands of pieces – everything from postcards to cosplay outfits and mosaics of celebrities.

 It united scrapbookers and yarn bombers with avid collectors of football shirts and LEGO.

The weird and the wonderful, all under one roof.

And under that same roof was a fascinating collection of carrier bags – most from right here in Blackburn – documenting high street names now confined to history.

These bags have been collected for more than 40 years by Blackburn Museum volunteer Ken Ford and are being showcased in the national exhibition, which has already won much praise from critics.

Also featured is an incredible Warhammer collection belonging to Naser Rasool – known for running The Batcave, the popular comic book and games store in Town Hall Street, Blackburn.

Ken and Naser are just two of thousands who answered the open call to share their talents and prized collections for this unique exhibition – the ultimate celebration of personal creativity.

Go on! Come As You Really Are and discover the collection for yourself at Blackburn Museum this summer. Like all the fascinating exhibitions there, it will be free to visit.

Find out more now: www.blackburnmuseum.org.uk and www.festivalofmaking.co.uk