Pop history is often told through the artists – those who create and perform the music. But music gains meaning in the encounter between those who play and those who listen. Everyone who listens to music is part of this history, but some more than others – the fans. Fans have been crucial to how music acquires value and artists attain star status. Through dedication, knowledge, and not least creativity, they organize, collect, interpret, and act.

In the exhibition, the audience encounters fans through objects, stories, and personal traces of an engagement that has helped shape our music culture. From fan letters and fan club magazines to handmade concert outfits and unique items, the exhibition shows how fans have not only followed the music, but have also actively contributed to it.

The public has also played a role in shaping the exhibition through a public collecting campaign. In the exhibition section Young at Heart, five selected stories are highlighted – personal narratives about how being a fan can accompany people throughout their entire lives.

A central space in the exhibition is a teenager’s bedroom from the 1990s, filled with posters, CDs, films, and personal belongings. It illustrates how music becomes part of identity formation during adolescence.

The exhibition presents powerful individual stories from dedicated fans and offers insight into the relationship between artist and audience through interviews with contemporary artists such as Magdi, Janove Ottesen, Astrid S, girl in red, and Synne Sørgjerd.

Among the objects on display are a specially made concert dress inspired by Sabrina Carpenter, an original Turbojugend jacket, and fan club material from both Norwegian and international communities.

The exhibition We <3 You is a fan letter to the fans – the forgotten heroes of pop history.

The exhibition opens Thursday, May 21 at 2 p.m.