London V&A recruits four Taylor Swift superfans to advise on new exhibition
The Victoria And Albert Museum in London has chosen four Taylor Swift superfans to act as advisors for a new exhibition.
The recruitment comes after news broke earlier this year that the museum was looking for fans who could share their knowledge on the fan culture that surrounds the pop icon, as well as the crafts and memorabilia that are popular among her fanbase.
It comes as some of Swift’s personal items will be displayed at an upcoming exhibit titled Taylor Swift: Songbook Trail. The free and temporary exhibition will be made up of 13 separate installations that will map out the pop star’s life and legacy, as well as highlight archival pieces from Swift’s career such as clothing, awards instruments and more. It’ll run from July 27 until September 8.
Organisers were predominantly looking for details on the handmade signs that fans bring to her live shows and the friendship bracelets that attendees often swap with other fans during the gigs.
Now, after over 1,000 people applied for the role, it has been revealed that four candidates have been chosen to oversee the exhibition.
As per Standard, these include a journalist and unofficial “Taylor Swift historian” named Kelsey Barnes, a literature professor with an “encyclopaedic” knowledge of the singer called Dr Iona Murphy, a long-time fan named India Meade, and a conservation charity worker called Molly Gilroy, who has been blogging about Swift since 2013.
They were selected after an extensive interview process with senior curator of theatre and performance at the museum, Kate Bailey.
“Being inundated with over a thousand applications from Swifties around the UK was incredibly humbling and a testament to Taylor Swift’s impact on popular culture,” Bailey told the outlet. “The depth of knowledge and passion for her work displayed by the applicants was truly astounding and as a result, narrowing it down to just four candidates was an arduous process, with each applicant bringing unique perspectives and expertise.
“We were thrilled to find individuals who could provide so much enthusiasm and their own insights into Swift’s artistry.”
Dr Murphy told Standard that being selected was “something beyond my wildest dreams”, while Meade added that it was “ a great privilege to work together with the other superfans and share our collective knowledge with the amazing team”.
The gallery will be open from next week (July 27) and run until September 8. Visit here for more information.
It comes as Swift has already performed a run of live shows in the UK as part of her massive ‘Eras Tour’. The singer will return to the UK next month for five more dates at London’s Wembley Stadium, before finishing the tour with a North American leg across November and December. You can find any remaining tickets to the London shows here.
Last month, NME gave Swift’s first Edinburgh show of the tour a glowing five-star review, writing: “Despite being an arena show, in a huge, cavernous venue, Swift and her fans have managed to cultivate a community. Strangers swap friendship bracelets, laugh and cry together, and embrace the tour’s in-jokes and lore (for example shouting “one, two, three, let’s go bitch” during ‘Delicate’).
“It’s the power of Swift, an artist who’s inspired not only the renaming of a Scottish Loch, but also countless fans to come out and embrace being a part of the ‘Eras’ family. With ‘The Eras Tour’, then, Swift’s managed to craft a marvel of a show that comes with a beating heart.”
Meanwhile, her latest album,‘The Tortured Poets Department’, recently became the biggest album of the year so far in the US after shifting 4.66million equivalent album units in the first half of this year.
It also became the first album by a woman to spend its first 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart.
The post London V&A recruits four Taylor Swift superfans to advise on new exhibition appeared first on NME.
Liberty Dunworth
NME
