Holmes Castle Fan Fest '23
APRIL 22, 2023 @ CAPC
The Holmes Castle Fan Fest is a one-day event created by Cécile di Giovanni, held on April 22, 2023 at the CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux. Conceived as part of her installation Dark Places: Part II and the exhibition Barbe à Papa, the event transformed the museum space into the fictional site of a fan convention centered on the story of H.H. Holmes — often referred to as the first American serial killer.
Staged in front of a life-sized display panel inspired by the so-called “Murder Castle,” the event brought together a series of participatory activities: video game sessions, an escape game, paper model-making workshops, and a reading group. These moments invited the audience to reflect on the ways historical trauma and criminal legends are reimagined through play, merchandise, and fan culture.
The Holmes Castle Fan Fest imagined the formation of a temporary community — a fictional fan club — that questions how history is rewritten through popular media, immersive experience, and collective storytelling. The event featured contributions from American Ghost Walk, Frédéric Rochette (Chœur de Gamers), Escape Hunt Bordeaux, Ray Keim, and Alexandra Midal.
Program
2:00 PM - 6:30 PM ongoing
Frédéric Rochette (Chœur de Gamers): Live Twitch of The Dark Anthology - The Devil in Me (video game)
Ray Keim: Paper model construction workshop
3:00 PM
Escape Hunt Bordeaux: Live broadcast of an escape game session
4:30 PM
Alexandra Midal: The Murder Factory - Life and Work of H. H. Holmes, America’s First Serial Killer
5:45 PM
American Ghost Walk: Live guided tour on the trail of Holmes in Chicago
Discussions around the video game Dark Anthology – The Devil in Me, which revisits the story of H. H. Holmes, were initiated with Alexandra Midal, while Frédéric Rochette, from the association “Chœur de Gamers,” played the game live on Twitch for the audience present at the museum. Simultaneously, a group was filmed live while playing a Holmes-themed escape game — Escape Hunt — in Bordeaux.
Ray Keim, theme park designer at Universal Studios and creator of the website “Haunted Dimensions by Ray Keim,” traveled specially from Florida to lead a paper model workshop focused on the theme of Holmes. Two models were offered to the public: a reconstruction of Holmes’ hotel designed by Ray Keim, and a model of the post office imagined by Cécile di Giovanni that now partially occupies the site of the original hotel in Chicago.
Alexandra Midal presented her book La Manufacture du meurtre (The Murder Factory), which explores the links between Holmes and the history of design.
To close the afternoon, a live video with American Ghost Walks — a company specializing in dark tourism — was broadcast, taking viewers through the traces of Holmes in Chicago. This allowed us to discover the exact location of the “castle” and to learn new anecdotes about its history.
Paper Model
Two paper model kits were distributed to the public for free during the event. Guests could build them during a special workshop on-site with assistance from Ray Keim. While Ray’s design interpretation was a free rendition of H. H. Holmes’ hotel, the other model I conceived was a free interpretation of the current building, a post office, now situated at the hotel’s location.
MERCHANDISING
An exclusive merch collaboration under the name SRC 001 has been designed and produced with Encore Label. Tee-shirts available in M, L, XL, XXL.
Roll-up
Original HOLMES CASTLE FAN FEST Roll-Up XXL (single edition) by artist Cécile Di Giovanni. This Roll-up was part of Di Giovanni's event HOLMES CASTLE FAN FEST 23’ at CAPC Musée d'art Contemporain de Bordeaux.
"Murder Castle - quarantine version" by Sunspot aka Mike from "American Ghost Walk"!
