The hand fan: How objects participate in the organizing of crowds

headlined by Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Tyler, The Creator, Deftones, Skrillex, Lorde, and Doechii.This edition of the world-famous festival was informally dubbed "Lequepalooza" (with leque meaning hand fan in Brazilian Portuguese) due to the widespread use of hand fans by thousands of participants across the festival grounds (Itatiaia, 2026; G1, 2026).A panoramic view above participants' heads revealed a dense constellation of hand fans varying in color, from monochrome designs to predominantly rainbow prints.Spectators in the crowd did not merely wave hand fans to cool themselves; they collectively engaged in what the 2SLGBTQIA+ (queer) community refers to as "bater leque 2 " (trans."fan clacking"): the rhythmic snapping of hand fans open and shut to produce a sharp percussive "clack" or "thworp" that reverberates across the crowd in sonic waves, often synchronizing with beats, drops, or choruses and transforming the crowd into a collective instrument.Fan clacking is a growing phenomenon across large crowds.At Lollapalooza Brasil, Chappell Roan recalled seeing the practice at Lady Gaga's Copacabana concert in 2025, telling the crowd that she had seen them "with the hand fans" and wondered whether she would ever experience the same at one of her concerts: "And here we are," she remarked upon seeing the crowd clacking their hand fans (Billboard Brasil, 2026;Lewer and Brêda, 2026).Drawing on queer theory (Pirani and Daskalopoulou, 2022) and research on crowds' social atmospheres (Danatzis et al., 2026;Hill et al., 2022), this media and artifacts review examines hand fans not merely as decorative or functional objects, but as objects that actively coordinate crowd behavior by transforming individual gestures into collective acts of celebration and resistance.The history of the hand fan spans over 5000 years.Across civilizations, from ancient Egypt to China, Japan, and Europe, the hand fan has served as an extension of the body, facilitating gestures, signaling, and social communication, particularly within elite, aristocratic, and ceremonial contexts (Leicester Museums, 2023).By the late 20th century, hand fans had become integrated into New York City's ballroom culture, where they served as devices of collective expression, rhythm,