Hetain Patel - Come As You Really Are

Friday 28 November 2025, 6–7pm
Offsite at Nerve Centre Cinema, 7-8 Magazine St, Derry~Londonderry BT48 6HJ.

CCA Derry~Londonderry, in partnership with Foyle Film Festival, & Artangel present Come As You Really Are by Hetain Patel. The film brings together myriad hobbies and hobbyists from across the UK, each representing a decision to commit valuable time to living life on one’s own terms in a society dominated by consumerism.

Working with a network of galleries and arts organisations, the artist launched a nationwide call-out inviting members of the public to share the activity to which they dedicate their spare time. Come As You Really Are adopts the aesthetics of Hollywood cinema and advertising to showcase a variety of hobbies, celebrates freedom of expression and ingenuity, and in doing so broadens our perception of who gets to be called creative and where the impulse to create stems from.

Come As You Really Are is a nationwide project made up of 13 partner presentations across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales from Summer 2024–2026.

An informal show & tell will follow the film with audience members invited to join in by bringing items that represent their hobbies.

Commissioned and Produced by Artangel. In partnership with CCA Derry~Londonderry; 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; Hospitalfield, Arbroath and Tate St Ives.

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

Read more about the nationwide project at: artangel.org.uk/project/come-as-you-really-are

Image: Hetain Patel, Come As You Really Are (film stills), 2024