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Hyperallergic editor-in-chief Hakim Bishara published “To Live Is to Believe,” a personal dispatch built around the magazine’s art-themed Halloween gathering and scenes from New York. The piece is a reported reflection, not an announcement of a new exhibition or institutional decision; it closes on a Duchamp quotation and a child carrying a toy torch.
Hyperallergic editor-in-chief Hakim Bishara published “To Live Is to Believe,” a first-person dispatch linking Halloween scenes in Queens and Brooklyn with the magazine’s annual art costume party. The piece records the gathering and its costumes while reflecting on performance, hardship and belief; it is a personal essay rather than a report announcing a policy change or new art-world initiative.
Bishara opens with a street encounter in Queens: a woman in a red dress carries an axe, and the writer briefly reacts before remembering it is Halloween. The scene establishes the piece’s interest in the uncertain boundary between ordinary city life and performance. Later, he describes a dinner at Cabinet Magazine where founder and editor-in-chief Sina Najafi showed a photograph of tightrope walker Margret Zimmermann above the bombed-out ruins of Cologne’s Haymarket in 1946. Bishara notes Zimmermann’s red lipstick, the wind and the crowd below.
The dispatch also takes in Brooklyn, where Bishara describes a man wearing a jeweled crown asking him for money. He writes that “performance artists are beggars and beggars are performance artists,” presenting the line as an observation about the city rather than a verified account of the man’s circumstances. At Hyperallergic’s party at Oberon in Brooklyn, nearly 200 members, readers, artists, supporters and guests attended on Wednesday evening, October 28, according to the accompanying newsletter text.
Costumes referenced art and art history, including a Dutch still life, “Beast Jesus,” characters associated with Goya, and two interpretations drawing on Marina Abramović and Ulay. Artist and organizer Claire Valdez, who was running for Congress, attended and judged the costume contest. Bishara says he had no costume but “perform[ed] all night.” He ends with a video on his phone in which Marcel Duchamp says, “To live is to believe,” followed by the sight of a young girl dressed as Lady Liberty carrying a torch with her mother.
Costumes Turn the City Into a Stage
The dispatch matters as a snapshot of how an arts publication’s community gathered around art, costume and performance. The party’s references—from historical painting to contemporary performance art—show how guests used familiar visual works as material for costumes, while the surrounding street observations complicate the distinction between deliberate performance and the roles people take on in public.
Bishara’s closing juxtaposition gives the title its meaning without presenting it as a formal conclusion or institutional position. The Duchamp quotation and the child’s raised torch connect belief with an everyday image of hope. That reading belongs to the essay’s framing; the source does not report a broader audience response or claim that the event had a measurable effect beyond the gathering.
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“To Live Is to Believe” appeared within a Hyperallergic weekly newsletter that also collected arts coverage and announcements. The surrounding material included a remembrance of sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard, interviews, reviews, and brief news items. Those items are separate from Bishara’s dispatch and should not be read as developments caused by the party.
The newsletter identifies the party as the magazine’s annual art costume event and places it at Oberon in Brooklyn on Wednesday evening, October 28. The source excerpt does not state the year. It also describes the event as drawing almost 200 people, a figure supplied by the newsletter rather than an independently documented attendance count.
““To live is to believe.””
— Hakim Bishara, Hyperallergic editor-in-chief
Details the Dispatch Leaves Open
The newsletter excerpt does not identify the publication year for the October 28 party, so a more precise date cannot be established from the supplied material. It reports attendance as “almost 200” but gives no counting method or separate confirmation. The dispatch offers Bishara’s personal observations, not corroborated details about the people he encountered or their intentions.
The source also does not describe follow-up plans for the party, provide a full list of contestants or winners, or report responses from attendees. No additional consequence or policy development is attached to the essay. The quoted Duchamp line is presented as heard in a video, but the supplied material does not identify the recording or provide further details about its provenance.
No Further Event Is Announced
The source material announces no next edition of the costume party, related exhibition or follow-up event. The confirmed development is the publication of Bishara’s dispatch alongside a weekly newsletter that includes other arts coverage. Readers seeking further details would need an additional statement from Hyperallergic; none is included in the supplied report.
For now, the party’s documented record remains the newsletter’s account of the October 28 gathering at Oberon, its approximate attendance, selected costume references and Valdez’s role as a contest judge. The dispatch itself ends not with an announcement but with Bishara’s image of the Lady Liberty-costumed child holding her torch aloft.
Key Questions
What is “To Live Is to Believe”?
It is a first-person dispatch by Hakim Bishara, Hyperallergic’s editor-in-chief, about Halloween scenes in New York and the magazine’s art costume party.
When and where was the party held?
The accompanying newsletter says it took place on Wednesday evening, October 28, at Oberon in Brooklyn. The supplied excerpt does not specify the year.
How many people attended?
The newsletter describes almost 200 attendees, including members, readers, artists, supporters and guests. It does not explain how attendance was counted.
Who judged the costume contest?
Claire Valdez, identified in the newsletter as an artist and organizer running for Congress, served as a judge. The excerpt does not name a winner.
Does the article announce another event?
No. The source reports the party and publishes Bishara’s reflections, but it gives no date or announcement for a future event.
Source: hyperallergic.com
