Callout: Come As You Really Are

We want to hear about your hobbies! Be part of an exciting new project for Greater Manchester hobbyists from Hetain Patel, Factory International and Artangel by sharing your details here

Hetain Patel stood by an artwork, which is a brightly patterned car

Be part of a new project

Hetain Patel invites you to join Come As You Really Are, the loudest presentation of our quiet pastimes.

Every day, millions of us dedicate time to our favourite hobbies; as a way to express ourselves and be creative. Whether you make it, play it, perform it, modify it or collect it, we want to hear from you.

Come As You Really Are will showcase hobbyists from across Greater Manchester at Aviva Studios in February 2027, so fill in the form and be part of the movement.

You can fill in the form online or download a PDF version and email it to hobby@factoryinternational.org. We can't wait to hear what you share and will be in touch after the deadline of Sunday 19 July.

Please note, if you have already submitted the form as part of our Hobby Cave callout in 2024, you do not need to submit the form again.

Tell us about your hobbies

Fill in our online form → Download a pdf version →

About Hetain Patel

Hetain Patel is an award-winning British-Gujarati artist and filmmaker. The act of making objects by hand has always been close to this artist’s heart. Whether converting his first car into a real life Transformer robot or creating his own Spiderman suit at his kitchen table, a number of his celebrated artworks combine joyful childhood obsessions with serious reflections on identity politics and power dynamics.

The handmade objects he creates in his work are painstakingly produced and tip a nod to the manual labour often carried out by migrants, while their hybridity points towards the new possibilities that emerge when convention is defied. Come As You Really Are is Patel’s most ambitious and far-reaching project to date.

Credits

Commissioned and produced by Artangel.

In partnership with

Factory International, Manchester; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea; Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; Museum of Making, Derby Museums Trust; National Festival of Making with Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery; Wolverhampton Art Gallery; Barnsley Civic; Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland; CCA Derry~Londonderry; Hospitalfield, Arbroath; Tate St Ives.

Supported by Artangel's Guardian Angels. With thanks to Creative Lives.

Artangel is generously supported using public funding by Arts Council England, and by the private patronage of The Artangel International Circle, Special Angels, and The Company of Angels.

Image credit: Hetain Patel, Somerset Road, 2024, installed next to quilts and carpets by hobbyists at Come As You Really Are, Croydon, 2024. Photography by Lia Toby.

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