Closing Reception for "Hard Return: 9 Experiments for this Moment" 

During I’m Not Dancing, I’m Struggling to Survive, artist Jesus Benavente invites attendees to join as performers by engaging in a dance party. The gallery will be filled with colorful flashing lights, balloons, and music. While visitors dance, have fun, and enjoy themselves, they become aware that the festive sights and sounds of the party resemble the sights and sounds of policing—flashing lights, popping, and music with lyrics like “Get Down” and “Hands in the Air.” The performance creates awareness of how traditional party elements can call to mind themes of danger, safety, and the carceral state. This “Sad Party” appropriation offers a space for both light-hearted escapism and sincere reflection.

Expect flashing lights and loud sounds.

Hard Return: 9 Experiments for this Moment is organized by the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, SUNY, and co-curated by Purchase College faculty members Kate Gilmore, a renowned performance artist, and Jonah Westerman, an art historian who specializes in performance art.

Generous financial support for this exhibition has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art, and the Purchase College Foundation. Additional support of the student participation in Hard Return has been provided by Ivan Bart & Grant Greenberg and Ava & Paul Zukowsky.