
Friedman Benda is pleased to announce And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music, a group exhibition curated by Thorsten Albertz, from July 16 to August 17, 2013. From the outgoing and flamboyant to the introverted and lonesome, the show assesses the culture of nightlife - its customs and expectations - through the art it has provoked from the 1970s to the present. An unconventional opening celebration will be held on Tuesday, July 16 from 6-9pm at Friedman Benda, 515 West 26th Street.
In the exhibition, a diverse group of artists explore the bacchanalian nights and elusive nocturnal moments that define the collective party experience. It is a setting where routines of the day are cast aside to make way for an alternative set of rituals. From New York City’s historic Studio 54 to Berlin’s open air ‘Love Parade,’ club culture elicits a complex web of emotions, unique to each participant though foreign to none. Intrigued by the sensational nature of the party, each artist captures an affecting moment in its evolution from the questioning of identity in Nan Goldin’s polaroids of young men preparing to go out to Nicolas Provost’s video play with synthetic atmospheric manipulations.