Interspace Crafts and Arts Spaceships Fair
Origins
An example of one year's collection of garrish ships
The fair was originally started as a casual meeting of fellow artist friends who just wanted a convenient way to hang out and share their work without having about worry the rules and regulations of loitering near or on planets and/or stations. This initial meeting wasn't a festival of any sort, it was just half a dozen friends who linked up their personal ships in an empty stretch of space not far from The Variance space station at the center of the Delta Space in order to hand out and share their artwork.
This group of artists had so much fun collaborating and sharing their art in this manner that they planned another meeting of a similar kind a few months later. This time it was held in a stretch of space in the western region of the Federated Territories of Vash and more than a dozen artists arrived to collaborate and share. Again, it was a rousing success and the group would continue to meet every few months and the collection of artists would grow and grow each time.
A few years of this went by before the founding members decided to capitalize on the idea and launch it as a full-blown fair. All the participating ships and their artists meet to continue to collaborate and exhibit their art for view and sale to the public, for free. Christened the Interspace Crafts and Arts Spaceships Fair, the collection of ships would add concessions and performances to the event to create a weeklong arts festival. And the fair has been running as such every year since, typically being held bi-annually in a new spot, usually decided by a committee. The fair isn't tied to any sort of season due to it being held in space, but it carries with it that summertime festival feel. Just with more ship industrial grade-metal and artificially pumped-in atmosphere smell.
The Interspace Crafts and Arts Spaceships Fair has grown significantly over the years, now in its fiftieth year of running the festival usually boasts between a hundred and a hundred and fifty ships. And over the span of a few days usually sees thousands of attendees come to view and purchase various art pieces and crafts.
The arts and crafts available at the fair vary drastically, from the traditional selection of paintings, sculptures, and the like to a more obscure and bizarre selection of pieces. Some of the stranger pieces include miniatures sculptures of Pet Sphrobes moulded from the burnt moss and melted rock sourced from the creature's home amongst the Sphrobe Moons, or an arrangement of dozens of bottles of water each arrangement by hue and sourced from a different marine planet.
More practical custom items can be purchased at the fair as well, like high-end ship modules crafted to a client's specific needs, coded with any sort of program a pilot or ship owner may need. Technical and digital craftsmen are still artists in the minds of the festival's organizers. Other specialized collectors also use the fair as a showcase. Which sometimes includes the occasional appearance of a Far-flung Curios and Pets Monger who will set up a display of their oddities and artifacts, though these people are highly vetted as this profession is often an immoral and unscrupulous one.
The Interspace Crafts and Arts Spaceships Fair is an arts and crafts fair which is held bi-annually in the Delta Space, with the location changing each time. The fair is never held on land and is unique in the fact that it is always held in space, and is known for its garish display of art both on the outside of its ships and their interior.
The "fairgrounds" are a collection of interlocked spaceships that create a large and often elaborate walkable environment for visitors and fellow artists to peruse each other's crafts and art at leisure.
Some artists only show off their art, setting up garish and elaborate galleries and art exhibits for attendees to walk through. While others actively try and sell various art pieces and crafts they have made. The fair often has a wonderous and bizarre vibe, with many ships being themed or adorned in strange ways.
As the fair has been held year after year, most of the participating artists have begun a game of friendly one-upmanship. Going about and beyond in what they bring to display and sell, going beyond simple paintings, crocheted crafts, etc.
Many of the artists have begun to garishly adorn their ships, on the inside and the outside. Painting them in wild colours and installing whimsical and bizarre structures all over their ships, with varying final effects.
Some ships look like regal crafts adorned with gold and laid out to look like a traditional art gallery on the inside. While others have painted their ships in wild colours and designed the inside of their ships to resemble big-top circuses. Some ships have even had their ceilings painted to resemble a surrealist version of space.
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