New Yorkers Went Absolutely Bats*** Last Night For Bjarne Melgaard's 'Purge'

Red Bull Arts New York opened its doors last night, allowing guests to make a mad dash for free goods spread throughout its three-story space. The Purge-like event was part of the RBANY's current exhibition, The Casual Pleasure of Disappointment, which features apparel and accessories from Swedish artist Bjarne Melgaard on display in a concept department store. The Purge was the first of a multi-night event leading up to the opening of a jewelry store tomorrow, all collectively highlighting our unhealthy cultural obsession with material goods.

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A press release for The Purge says, "The launch of the Melgaard brand suggests the retirement of Bjarne Melgaard as a fine artist, abandoning the humiliating context of the exhibition platform for the much worse context of cult streetwear: a market pretending to be a community, pretending to be a violent assault on reproduction."

In the following slides, check out wild imagery from the exhibition's evening extravaganza, and check out Red Bull Arts New York's Instagram for more information.

Photography: Megan Mack