Re-usability and Re-appropriation of Form
Introduction and Theory
We have looked at the wide range of different fairground 'arts' and can see that there is not one consistent style or comprehensive definition as to what constitutes a fairground aesthetic or artistic style. What underpins the discipline, and its various forms of expression, is a mixture of clever needs (functioning with shapes, space, forms, creating an enclosed 'other world') and dynamic system of referencing popular cultures through immediacy and re-appropriation.
Therefore how is it possible to have a recognisable and comprehensible fairground style which can be re-used and immediately identified as such and imbued with certain connotations (those of the fair, i.e fun, excitement, energy…)? How can marketable aspects such as 'fun' be tuned into the fun associated with the fairground?
Fun transmitted from arena to commodity.
Primarily achieved by condensing, or stereotyping, the actual fairground art seen on the fair, the end product, this 'visual language of the fair', may not actually resemble the reality of the fairground that strongly. This phenomenon is comparable to many other aesthetic ideals, for a random example, an Italian restaurant in England. To the customer, everything looks innately Italian, from the décor, to the menu to the way the waiters dress. We might sit inside this restaurant and call it 'quintessentially Italian' and as such it has all the connotations of Italian culture and style and whatever we associate with that. However the fact remains that Italian restaurants in Britain actually look nothing like restaurants in Italy, they are almost exaggerated parodies rather than faithful copies. This is a long winded point but the basic point is that the fairground aesthetic which is re-used in culture is not the same as the fairground aesthetic we have looked at so far. Rather, it is a selective compilation of certain aspects of fairground art and style.
An example of the above is that an attempted construct of the 'fairground aesthetic' is often indiscriminately blended with circus imagery, which is in reality a separate thing.
Also, it is important to note that this fairground aesthetic is re-used to imbue the new space or object with the emotional connotations of the fair- fun, speed, excitement, freedom and possibly youthfulness - and this is taken wholesale and transplanted. The Italian restaurant desires to appear ostensibly Italian, whereas a space (or product, or service) utilising the fairground aesthetic does not necessarily want to masquerade as a fairground but instead 'buy into' the aforementioned emotions associated with the fair. The ingenuity of fairground art, one of its defining factors, is the ability to attack the confines of shape and space in an effort to totalise the branding on the fair. This working-into confines - through uniquely evolved lettering forms and patterning - defines a part of the fairground aesthetic, but it is the final product that is transplanted and not the driving necessity to ingeniously totalise the new space that wishes to utilise the fairground aesthetic. This 'apparentness' illustrates the example above regarding Italian eateries.
Space confines tackled giving rise to style, font and flow.
Elements
Is there a specific colour palette that can be attributed to the fairground? Essentially the fairground artist and designer sticks to bold and primary colours, however the dictum appears to be a contrast in these colours that is striking and outside of the ordinary. This is one of the primary ways the fairground aesthetic conveys its message - it is fun, bright, bold, straightforward - a very specific palette which connotes a great deal. The use of bright and contrasting colours is also seen on the painting of seaside houses, in either pastel or primary colour regimes. The image below can only be associated with a seaside (or tourist) spot, but can be seen as evolving from the candy styling of fairground aesthetics.
Seaside housing, deriving from...
...seaside fairground entertainment.
Similarly repetition of motif and design is foregrounded - lots of the non-figurative shapes and refrains seem to be re-used - this stems from the totalising of awkward space that the fairground aspires to. When re-appropriated and used in a new space its compressive and restricted nature is captured whilst at the same time allowed to run free without boundaries, creating a potential illusion of purpose and origin.
Fairground lettering is assimilated for purposes beyond imbuing a sense of fun, etc. It points towards a tradition, often (possibly incorrectly) an 'Englishness', or a rural sense of idyll.
Vivienne Westwood utilised this fairground-rooted aesthetic for a recent campaign.
Examples
What are the examples of this hybrid, generalised, stereotyped conception of the fairground aesthetic in practise?
We can see examples in all media spheres of a re-used fairground aesthetic. This can quite often be an overt, visual example such as scenes (or even over-riding subjects) within films or music videos, but it is more interesting to map out a re-used aesthetic which strives to imbue its product with certain qualities. What aspects does the producer capture to re-assemble the fairground aesthetic? What is the overriding 'feeling' or set of emotions that are trying to be invoked?
Certainly taken as a blank subject for a derivative piece of work the fairground is often contentious. Depictions of the fair in recent dramas and advertisements has been open to serious accusations of negative stereotyping, with aspects such as poor safety and the itinerant and unthoughtful nature of fairground operators being key issues. Drama is supported by such stereotypes, making for interesting programmes, however the stereotyping is then enforced and taken into the wider 'real' world outside of the drama. At a film level, the subject of the circus and fair is often used with a grotesque or horror undercurrent, something stemming from the American 'carny' tradition.
But a re-assembled fairground aesthetic is normally used to transmit the qualities of fun, adventure, release, speed, freedom, the passion of youth into a product. Within fashion there has been a recent trend to visit the emotions associated with the fairground, and this follows a period of time where clothing was predominantly imbued with the sense of adventure associated with surfing. Clothing company Boden launched a recent campaign uniting Britishness with fairs and circuses, adding a carnival billboard typescript, and imbuing the colourful brightness of the clothes with a fairground magic. Similar advertising campaigns utilising fairground imagery were used by Marks and Spencers and New look (underwear), and the key element for both of these seemed to be fun for adults who should no better, suggesting the fairground as a place where inhibitions are relaxed and a return to youthfulness is seen as something that is (temporarily) permitted.
On a more intellectual level avant-garde designer Thomas Browne used the power relations between ringmaster, performer and audience as a focal point of one of his collections. Browne created a series of costumes based on the semiotics of the circus performance whilst at the same time mocking up a performance ring as the arena for his 'catwalk' show.
Pop music uses the imagery of the fairground and circus to pull in a certain feeling, although ironically the fairground itself depends heavily upon pop music (and dance music) as a token of enticement for business. Thus there exists something of a symbiosis between musicians and the fairground, with some scenes (particularly the rave scene with the 'Helter Skelter' branding) opting for a more obvious connection. Other artists will use a fairground setting to pose photographs, whilst at the least obvious end of the scale we see the deployment of set fonts and semiotics to link the fun and freedom of the fairground with the music.
CD artwork from Take That's 'Circus' CD utilising the shaping of fairground imagery and lettering.
The subject of the fairground leaks into art in many ways on a multiple number of levels. Of more interest is the use of fairground art and aesthetics that draws out an unseen quality of the fair, an interconnectiveness with forms of art itself. Eugene Atget took photos in Paris in the 1920's of everyday things, actually for artists to use as models, but he was picked up on in a big way by the surrealists. His images of out-of-use (and out-of-context) fairground rides underwrites the surreal and haunting quality of these objects. The fact that the surrealists loved his work conforms to their idea of picking the exhuberence and the strangeness of every day life and looking at it. Atget used to take photos very early in the morning so no one was around, and his work lends credence to the idea that there is something very human and surreal at work in the fairground aesthetic. On a similar tangent the works by Bruce Nauman suggest also reference the aesthetics of the fair and the circus. This art is more haunting and jarring than surreal but its again an example of it proliferating into 'high art'.
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