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Hyperallergic’s “To Live Is to Believe” is an editor’s Halloween dispatch by Hakim Bishara, pairing street scenes in Queens and Brooklyn with a photograph of a 1946 tightrope walk and the publication’s art-themed party. Its central line, attributed to Marcel Duchamp in a video on Bishara’s phone, frames the piece as a reflection on belief, performance and art in everyday life. The report does not announce a policy change or new institutional development.
Hyperallergic editor-in-chief Hakim Bishara has published “To Live Is to Believe,” a Halloween dispatch that connects encounters on New York streets with a photograph of a postwar tightrope walker and the publication’s annual art-themed costume party. The piece offers an editor’s reflection on how art and performance appear in everyday life, rather than reporting a new policy, exhibition or institutional announcement.
Bishara opens with a scene in Queens: a woman in a red dress crosses the street carrying an axe marked with blood. A police siren sounds nearby, and he briefly reaches to lock his car before remembering that it is Halloween. The incident is presented as a personal observation from the holiday, not as a reported crime or an independently verified event.
At a dinner hosted by Cabinet Magazine, founder and editor-in-chief Sina Najafi shows guests a photograph of tightrope walker Margret Zimmermann balancing above the bombed-out ruins of the Haymarket in Cologne in 1946. Bishara describes Zimmermann in red lipstick, with wind blowing through her hair, as a crowd watches below. The image provides a historical counterpoint to the contemporary street scenes in the dispatch.
The essay then turns to Brooklyn, where Bishara describes a man wearing a jeweled crown asking for money and reflects on how performance and public life can overlap. At Hyperallergic’s art-themed Halloween party at Oberon, nearly 200 members, readers, artists, supporters and friends attended, according to the supplied report. Artist and organizer Claire Valdez, who is running for Congress, joined the event as a judge for the art costume contest.
Art as Everyday Performance
The dispatch matters as a snapshot of how an arts publication frames cultural life beyond galleries and museums. Bishara places an unusual street encounter, a historical image and a community event in the same account, suggesting that performance is not confined to a stage or an artwork. That is the essay’s perspective, rather than a reported conclusion supported by data.
The party details also document a gathering of Hyperallergic’s readers and arts community, with costumes drawing on art history and contemporary practice. The source describes references to a Dutch still life, “Beast Jesus,” characters associated with Goya, and Marina Abramović and Ulay. The event offers a view of how participants turned familiar art references into costumes and social performance.
The headline phrase, “To live is to believe,” gives the piece its organizing idea. Bishara says the words appear in a video of Marcel Duchamp on his phone. The line links his reflections, but the source does not provide further details about the video or establish it as a new Duchamp discovery.
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From Street Scenes to the Party
The piece appeared within a Hyperallergic weekly newsletter that also listed other arts coverage and announcements. Among the items in that newsletter were reports about sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard, interviews with artists and writers, and a roundup of news involving museums, exhibitions and the art world. Those listings are separate items; they should not be read as developments caused by Bishara’s essay or the Halloween party.
The party took place at Oberon in Brooklyn on Wednesday evening, October 28, according to the supplied text. It was described as the publication’s annual art costume party. The material does not state the year, so the date cannot be placed more precisely on a calendar from the source alone.
Bishara’s short dispatch moves among Queens, Brooklyn and Cologne, but it is not a conventional event review or a reported investigation. Its scenes and interpretations are presented in the editor’s first-person voice. The account’s value is as a record of his observations and of a Hyperallergic gathering, not as independent verification of every street encounter.
““To live is to believe.””
— Hakim Bishara, Hyperallergic editor-in-chief
What the Dispatch Leaves Unspecified
The supplied report does not give a publication date or year for the party, beyond saying it took place on Wednesday, October 28. It also does not clarify whether the street encounters were witnessed by others, or provide additional details that would let readers independently verify them. They are presented as Bishara’s personal account.
The source attributes the phrase “To live is to believe” to a video of Marcel Duchamp, but does not identify the recording, its date or the wider context of the remark. The dispatch does not make a broader claim about Duchamp’s work or explain whether the wording has been independently authenticated.
The event description says nearly 200 people attended, but does not give a precise headcount or describe how attendance was measured. No further information is supplied about the contest results, the full list of costume participants or any plans for a future party.
No Further Event Plans Reported
The supplied material reports the party as a completed event and does not announce another date, a follow-up exhibition or a related program. Readers can expect the dispatch to sit alongside the other stories and listings in Hyperallergic’s newsletter, but no specific next publication or event milestone is identified here.
For now, the confirmed development is the publication of Bishara’s personal essay and the newsletter’s account of the October 28 gathering. Any additional details about the event, the Duchamp video or future editions would require further information from Hyperallergic or the people involved.
Key Questions
What is “To Live Is to Believe”?
It is an editorial Halloween dispatch by Hakim Bishara, Hyperallergic’s editor-in-chief, about street scenes in New York, a historical photograph and the publication’s art-themed party.
When and where was Hyperallergic’s party?
The supplied report says it took place on Wednesday evening, October 28, at Oberon in Brooklyn. It does not specify the year.
How many people attended?
The report describes almost 200 attendees, including members, readers, artists, supporters and friends. It does not provide a precise count or explain how attendance was measured.
Who is Margret Zimmermann in the essay?
She is identified as the tightrope walker in a photograph shown by Cabinet Magazine editor Sina Najafi. The image depicts her above the bombed-out Haymarket in Cologne in 1946.
Is the essay announcing a new exhibition or policy?
No. The source presents it as a personal editorial reflection and event account, not an announcement of a new exhibition, policy or institutional development.
Source: hyperallergic.com
