PARTY ON

All the Wildest, Absurdly Artsy Outfits at MoMA PS1’s Back to School Benefit

Sep. 29, 2017

Among the 20 wide-ranging performances that made up this year’s “Back to School” benefit for MoMA PS1 on Thursday night was an actual fashion show, featuring looks by Eckhaus Latta, Telfar, and Vaquera. And while the indier names like Venice Wanakornkul contributed pieces, like a dress made of chains whose only coverage came in the form of tucked-in dollar bills—a look described as “sex-positive Russian crypto hacker”—the models were in fact ultimately upstaged by the show-goers, including even the museum’s director, Klaus Biesenbach, who paraded around with a whistle around the neck of his Adidas tracksuit, whose bright red hue just so happened to match the cap and gown of the man greeting visitors with maps to navigate the various scenarios spread throughout the institution. Those included a room that had been ever so slightly flooded for Forrest Wu’s sudsy dance party, where shirts were apparently not permitted, as well as more intense performances; Hirakish, for one, wore a nylon sock over his head and glared at visitors from either the floor or a chair that read “I AM DEAD” as the room’s surrounded walls played videos of him “emulating an act of fellatio with a crucifix.” Luckily, though, the organizers had mapped things out so that the adjoining rooms to the more jarring scenes offered respite in the form of fuel like peanut butter cracker sandwiches and, of course, Biesenbach’s snack of choice, Doritos, to revelers who wore everything from feather boas to anticapitalist fanny packs. In the end, though, the most shocking ensembles were in fact the simplest: In the latest disturbing imagining from the anonymous artist Puppies Puppies, the massive dome in the museum’s courtyard was occupied by a performer in a police uniform, who alternately kneeled or sat completely alone in the center with their hands cuffed behind their back as visitors tentatively took photos from the sidelines. On a much lighter note, safely inside, another show-stealing man traveled from room to room and even floor to floor completely naked—except for the composition notebooks he awkwardly held up to cover his lower front and back. Take a peek at all that and more, here.

At MoMA PS1’s Second Annual Back to School Benefit organized with DIS Magazine in Long Island City on Thursday, September 28th. Photo by Matt Bernstein for W Magazine.

Puppies Puppies’s Policing the Police at MoMA PS1’s Second Annual Back to School Benefit organized with DIS Magazine in Long Island City on Thursday, September 28th. Photo by Matt Bernstein for W Magazine.

At MoMA PS1’s Second Annual Back to School Benefit organized with DIS Magazine in Long Island City on Thursday, September 28th. Photo by Matt Bernstein for W Magazine.

Hirakish’s Ode to the Pink Room at MoMA PS1’s Second Annual Back to School Benefit organized with DIS Magazine in Long Island City on Thursday, September 28th. Photo by Matt Bernstein for W Magazine.

At MoMA PS1’s Second Annual Back to School Benefit organized with DIS Magazine in Long Island City on Thursday, September 28th. Photo by Matt Bernstein for W Magazine.