> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # To Live Is to Believe - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/to-live-is-to-believe/ - Published: 2026-10-31T10:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-31T10:00:03.000Z - Description: Remembering Ursula von Rydingsvard, an Epstein survivor’s message for MoMA, interviews with Paul Pfeiffer and Layli Long Soldier, and the best costumes of our artsy Halloween party. - Author: Hakim Bishara - Tags: Weekly Newsletter, Newsletter On a fair afternoon in Queens, New York, a woman in a red dress crosses the street in front of me with an actual axe under her arm. Her face is stern, her step fast, and you can tell from the blood on her axe that she wasn’t using it to chop wood. A police siren wails in the distance, but that doesn’t seem to bother her. I reach to lock the car and then remember it’s Halloween. At a warm and lovely dinner at *Cabinet* *Magazine*, founder and editor-in-chief Sina Najafi shows us a photograph of tightrope walker Margret Zimmermann balancing on a high wire above the bombed-out ruins of the Haymarket in Cologne, Germany, in 1946\. She looks her finest in her red lipstick, but a treacherous wind is blowing in her hair as a crowd watches from far below. Outside, Brooklyn seems to be getting richer and poorer at the same time. A man wearing a bejeweled crown asks me for money. In this city, performance artists are beggars and beggars are performance artists. At Hyperallergic’s art-themed Halloween party, dozens of guests show up with impressive costumes and really commit to the act. Claire Valdez, an artist and organizer who’s running for Congress, drops by and serves as a judge in our art costume contest.I don’t have a costume, but I perform all night. “To live is to believe,” Marcel Duchamp says in a video on my phone screen. A little girl dressed as Lady Liberty crosses the street with her mother, a torch in her hand. She keeps the torch held high as they walk off, and that makes me smile. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/halloween-nl.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-greatest-art-costumes-from-hyperallergics-halloween-party-2026/) [ The Greatest Art Costumes From *Hyperallergic*’s Halloween Party ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-greatest-art-costumes-from-hyperallergics-halloween-party-2026/) A Dutch still life, “Beast Jesus,” several esoteric Goya characters, and not one but two Marina Abramović/Ulay references (and not even the most obvious ones!) walk into a bar ... That’s a *Hyperallergic* Halloween, baby! On Wednesday evening, October 28, almost 200 of our members, readers, artists, supporters, and their enthusiastic friends rolled into Oberon in Brooklyn for our annual art costume party. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-greatest-art-costumes-from-hyperallergics-halloween-party-2026/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/NGoA.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-books-and-scholarship-from-the-national-gallery-of-art/) ****Art Books from the National Gallery of Art** Discover thoughtfully designed exhibition catalogs, insights from leading art historians and conservators, collection highlights, and more. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-books-and-scholarship-from-the-national-gallery-of-art/) --- ## Halloween Highlights [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/Edouard_Manet_-_Olympia_-_Google_Art_Project_3-1-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-edouard-manets-black-cat-became-a-symbol-of-modernity/) [ How Édouard Manet’s Black Cat Became a Symbol of Modernity ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-edouard-manets-black-cat-became-a-symbol-of-modernity/) Long associated with witchcraft and bad luck, the black feline became an emblem of artistic rebellion and urban life in 19th-century Paris. | Rebecca Schiffman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-edouard-manets-black-cat-became-a-symbol-of-modernity/) [ This Year’s Gay Halloween Celebrates Women’s Rights and Wrongs ](https://hyperallergic.com/this-years-gay-halloween-celebrates-womens-rights-and-wrongs/) From the Kelly Clarkson’s mechanical bird fiasco to Carrie Bradshaw’s Dior newsprint dress, Gay Halloween speaks to the staying power of women’s iconic media moments. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/this-years-gay-halloween-celebrates-womens-rights-and-wrongs/) [ Why Do Horror Films Have Such a Hold on Our Imaginations? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-horror-films-have-such-a-hold-on-our-imaginations/) An exhibition at the Academy Museum explores the transgressive power of scary movies, channeling our deepest fears about life, death, and the unknown. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-horror-films-have-such-a-hold-on-our-imaginations/) [ Hell Takes the Form of State Repression in 1971’s “The Devils” ](https://hyperallergic.com/hell-takes-the-form-of-state-repression-in-1971s-the-devils/) Ken Russell’s film designed by Derek Jarman, newly released in a 4K restoration, mirrors the horrors unfolding outside our windows. | Phillip Pyle [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/hell-takes-the-form-of-state-repression-in-1971s-the-devils/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/cedar.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ursula-von-rydingsvard-who-sculpted-monuments-of-cedar-dies-at-84/) - Ursula von Rydingsvard, a sculptor whose monuments of cedar were partly inspired by her childhood in post-World War II refugee camps, [dies at 84](https://hyperallergic.com/ursula-von-rydingsvard-who-sculpted-monuments-of-cedar-dies-at-84/). - Amid the spate of publicized museum heists sweeping the globe, one Los Angeles artist flips the script and [adds his own artwork to the walls of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-sneaks-his-work-into-the-met-museum/). - Researchers[ contest the dating of Vincent van Gogh’s *The Starry Night*](https://hyperallergic.com/scientists-contest-dating-of-van-goghs-the-starry-night/), identifying discrepancies between the celestial alignments in June 1889 and the painted night sky. - Kid Cudi announces his hand in [writing, directing, and starring in the forthcoming project *JEAN,* a biopic of late contemporary artist Jean-Michel Basquiat](https://hyperallergic.com/kid-cudi-to-write-direct-and-star-as-basquiat-in-new-biopic/). - Designed by artisans from Mestiz Studio in Mexico, [an enormous ofrenda titled “Twenty Petal Flower” beginsto blossom](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-ofrenda-arrives-in-manhattan-ahead-of-dia-de-muertos/) in Manhattan before the start of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead). - An exhibition series organized by the Vatican brings together more than 100 artists [to celebrate “fundamentally human” creativity in the face of AI’s rapid rise.](https://hyperallergic.com/vatican-exhibition-series-centers-fundamentally-human-art-over-ai/) - Documenta 16 names four new curatorial team members, artist Catherine Opie wins a Yale University award, Dallas Art Fair partners with a university, [and more in Art Movements this week](https://hyperallergic.com/documenta-16-names-four-new-curatorial-team-members/). --- ## Paris Art Week [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/paris-art-week-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/portrait-of-a-paris-art-week-on-fire/) - Naima Morelli writes about the protests and [the surreal experience of attending Paris Art Week while smelling burning plastic](https://hyperallergic.com/portrait-of-a-paris-art-week-on-fire/). - Amid historic student protests, a march in Paris led by artists, cultural workers, and art students [drew tens of thousands last Saturday](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-take-to-the-streets-amid-massive-protests-in-france/). --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/arkansas.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-school-of-art-at-the-university-of-arkansas-offers-tuition-free-graduate-programs/) ****The School of Art at the University of Arkansas Offers Tuition-Free Graduate Programs** Applications are now open for the 2027–2028 academic year. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-school-of-art-at-the-university-of-arkansas-offers-tuition-free-graduate-programs/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/nathan-fielder.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/nathan-fielder-is-a-performance-artist-in-disguise/) [ Nathan Fielder Is a Performance Artist in Disguise ](https://hyperallergic.com/nathan-fielder-is-a-performance-artist-in-disguise/) “You Can See Everything” is toted as a documentary, but is Fielder a performance artist playing a documentarian? | Rebecca Schiffman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/nathan-fielder-is-a-performance-artist-in-disguise/) [ How Mexican Photographers Made a Nation ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-mexican-photographers-made-a-nation/) A show at the Getty demonstrates the way modernist approaches to photography shifted the visual culture of Mexico in the 20th century. | Armando Pulido [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-mexican-photographers-made-a-nation/) [ The Center Cannot Hold at the Toronto Biennial ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-center-cannot-hold-at-the-toronto-biennial/) It’s a provocative and discursive exploration of how artists respond to our late-capitalist epoch, but its focus on “rupture” raises questions. | Neil Price [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-center-cannot-hold-at-the-toronto-biennial/) [ At 60, a Legendary LA Print Workshop Still Urges Us to Pay Attention ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-60-a-legendary-la-print-workshop-still-urges-us-to-pay-attention/) From Robert Rauschenberg and Josef Albers to Vija Celmins and Julie Mehretu, artists have tinkered outside their comfort zones at Gemini G.E.L. | David S. Rubin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-60-a-legendary-la-print-workshop-still-urges-us-to-pay-attention/) [ Lisa Sanditz’s Seismic Sublime ](https://hyperallergic.com/lisa-sanditzs-seismic-sublime/) Her environmental paintings ask: What can we do to change our destiny? What effect can we have on the place we inhabit? | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/lisa-sanditzs-seismic-sublime/) --- ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/leon-black-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/im-an-epstein-survivor-moma-must-drop-leon-black/) [ I’m an Epstein Survivor. MoMA Must Drop Leon Black. ](https://hyperallergic.com/im-an-epstein-survivor-moma-must-drop-leon-black/) Institutions must reckon with the possibility that their prestige can be used to legitimize people whose conduct warrants serious investigations. | Danielle Bensky [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/im-an-epstein-survivor-moma-must-drop-leon-black/) [ In Battle Over Auschwitz Watercolors, Roma Victims Are Getting Left Behind ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-battle-over-auschwitz-watercolors-roma-victims-are-getting-left-behind/) As the legal dispute over the paintings’ ownership continues, no one seems to be asking: What were their names? Who may still be grieving their deaths? What decision would best honor them? | Cristiana Grigore [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-battle-over-auschwitz-watercolors-roma-victims-are-getting-left-behind/) --- ## Books [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/beverly-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beverly-buchanan-at-the-raw-edge-of-art/) [ Beverly Buchanan at the Raw Edge of Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/beverly-buchanan-at-the-raw-edge-of-art/) Instead of leaving the South behind, the polymath artist carried it into her writings, zines, paintings, and “shack sculptures” that echo the architecture of her childhood. | Maria Owen [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beverly-buchanan-at-the-raw-edge-of-art/) [ The War on Art Is Repeating Itself ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-war-on-art-is-repeating-itself/) As an artist who lived through the Reagan-era Culture Wars, I recommend Isaac Butler’s “The Perfect Moment” for the stories that parallel our current fight to defend creative expression. | Martha Wilson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-war-on-art-is-repeating-itself/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/refugees.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-art-can-deliver-justice-for-refugees/) [ How Art Can Deliver Justice for Refugees ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-art-can-deliver-justice-for-refugees/) In the legal system, art created by refugees and incarcerated people can serve both as a form of therapy and as evidence of mass atrocities. | Duaa Shah [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-art-can-deliver-justice-for-refugees/) --- ## Interviews [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/layli.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/layli-long-soldiers-poetic-lifeblood/) [ Layli Long Soldier’s Poetic Lifeblood ](https://hyperallergic.com/layli-long-soldiers-poetic-lifeblood/) I spoke to the poet, who is my longtime friend and colleague, about her new book, the threads connecting poetry and visual art, and how Lakota philosophy suffuses her work. | Dyani White Hawk [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/layli-long-soldiers-poetic-lifeblood/) [ Paul Pfeiffer on the Spectacle of Politics ](https://hyperallergic.com/paul-pfeiffer-on-the-spectacle-of-politics/) “Perhaps the stadium is actually the replacement for the UN as a symbolic gathering point to conduct world politics,” the artist told Hyperallergic in an interview. | Brian Karl [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/paul-pfeiffer-on-the-spectacle-of-politics/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/10/la-art-guide.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-november/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This November ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-november/) Yuntao Xu’s art show in a gas station, LA’s first gallery run for and by Black artists, iris yirei hu’s reliquaries for a dream, and April Bey’s alien tapestries of human life. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-november/) --- ## Announcements [ Skirball Cultural Center presents “The 1960s — A Generation on Fire: Judy Baca’s Great Wall of Los Angeles” ](https://hyperallergic.com/skirball-cultural-center-presents-the-1960s-a-generation-on-fire-judy-bacas-great-wall-of-los-angeles/) The exhibition shares two new sections of the public art mural on view for the first time, featuring moments from an era of collective action that still resonates today. [ Studying Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s Institute ](https://hyperallergic.com/studying-contemporary-art-at-sothebys-institute/) Where critical thinking meets contemporary practice across key art world capitals. [ University of Connecticut Offers a Funded MFA in Studio Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/university-of-connecticut-offers-a-funded-mfa-in-studio-art/) Develop your creative practice. Gain teaching experience. Join a community of artists and educators. [ Discover Marcel Duchamp at the Philadelphia Museum of Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/discover-marcel-duchamp-at-the-philadelphia-museum-of-art/) See 300+ unique works by Marcel Duchamp, including the permanently installed masterpiece “Étant donnés”, exclusively at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. [ ARTPOWER’s New Platform Helps Artists Build Financial Confidence ](https://hyperallergic.com/artpowers-new-platform-helps-artists-build-financial-confidence/) Designed to answer one of creative work’s toughest questions: “What should I charge?” [ Otis College of Art and Design in LA Offers a Two-Year MFA Fine Arts Degree Program ](https://hyperallergic.com/otis-college-of-art-and-design-in-la-offers-a-two-year-mfa-degree-program/) Refine your artistic vision and join a diverse community at the first professional school of the arts in Los Angeles.