Events: Mirror to the past self and beacon for the future self?

Planned events are generally designed to achieve particular objectives and are typically considered reflective of changes in societal tastes and popular culture. The study of event attendance has often been positioned in terms of decision-making, with relevant theories such as the theory of planned behaviour being central in the exploration of what drives attendees to events, with outcomes relating to enhancing atendee experiences and increasing revisit intentions or visitor numbers for the future. Adapting Foucault's politics of the self to the individual, attending events can be further explored as part of the archaeology of the self as well as the cultivation of the self as a subject. Research questions are proposed in this direction, utilising the historical self as impetus influencing decisions to attend events, while imbuing agency into the forward-looking perspective of attending events as an expression of the self.