Critical Halloween: DEMO
Saturday October 31, 2015
Celebrate the demons, demonstrations, and demolitions of art and architecture in sartorial guise.

Saturday, October 31, 2015
DCTV Firehouse
87 Lafayette Street, New York
9 pm until late
DJ Sets by Daniel Perlin | Surfing
THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S CHOICE ONLINE COSTUME COMPETITION
Storefront partnered with Hyperallergic to host a Democratic People’s Choice Award. During the week following the event, online audiences were able to vote on for their favorite Critical Halloween costume through Hyperallergic.
Critical Halloween is a party, an intellectual debate, a costume competition, and a space for the expression of radical thought. Over the past few years, it has become a referential event that brings together people through music, dance, and costume design to engage in critical discussion in New York City.
“Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves. […] we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.”
– “Farewell to Penn Station,” New York Times, October 30, 1963
Each year, Critical Halloween celebrates a feared ghost of art and architectural production. This year, we explored DEMO, which operates simultaneously as an abbreviation, a prefix, a verb, and a noun.
From acts of collective will (DEMOnstration) to institutional erasure (DEMOlition), DEMO invited guests to intellectually examine ideas, issues, and objects in art, architecture, and design with a focus on those that should get a dose of DEMO.
Critical Halloween is a space of reflection and action based upon the belief that critical ideas have a place within even the most seemingly carefree manifestations of our culture: the Halloween costume party.
COSTUME COMPETITION PRIZES
This year the DEMO jury announced the awards at midnight. The jury was comprised of: Keller Easterling, Winka Dubbeldam, Andres Jaque, and Beatriz Galilee. The jury awarded 7 prizes in the following categories:
Best Overall Costume
“Building Cuts: The Ghost of Matta”
Steven Holl Architects
“Archzilla”
Evalynn Rosado – Weiss/Manfredi
Best Duo/Couple Costume
“Permitted and Unpermitted”
Adam Frampton and Karolina Czeczek – ONLY IF
Best Group Costume
“Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”
Special Prize for Best Demolition Costume
“The Fall of the Berlin Wall”
Leong Leong
Special Prize for Best Demonstration Costume
“Smoke”
Studio Dror
Special Prize for Best Democracy Costume
“Democracy, The Puppet of Capital”
Miguel de Guzman and Ines Esnal
Photos by BFA
Costume Concept Photography by Yuko Torihara
PARTY BIBLIOGRAPHY
Need some inspiration for your costume? Get critical with our Party Bibliography: On DEMO.
LEAD SPONSOR:
Arup
MEDIA PARTNER:
Hyperallergic
EVENT SPONSORS:
BFA
Pop Art Snacks
Apple Industries
Tito’s Vodka
CRITICAL FIRMS:
CRITICAL COMMITTEE:
Lydia Kallipoliti, ANAcycle
SOFTlab
Graphic Design by Riley Hooker