Noise and Flesh: New American Art Gallery Performance Art Series

The Foundation for New American Art announces a live performance event on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 7:00 PM at the New American Art Gallery at Westbeth Art Center, 55 Bethune St, Loft G223, New York, NY. Experimental musician and mixed-media artist Darryl Hell will perform Logic is an Enemy & Truth is a Menace — a live performance work presented as part of the gallery's current exhibition, Noise and Flesh: Crisis of the Image.

The performance centers on M.O.N.A. — a one-of-a-kind sculptural instrument conceived and built by Hell — accompanied by a composed soundscape and an integrated visual component. Together, these elements create an immersive, multi-sensory environment that confronts the viewer with the mechanisms through which lies are crystallized into cultural truth.

Part of a multidisciplinary practice spanning nearly three decades, the work asks what it means to live inside a society whose foundational narratives — that the United States is a land of peace, justice, and equality — are constructed fictions presented as self-evident truth. Hell's performance does not merely critique this condition; it renders it visceral, audible, and unavoidable.

About Darryl Hell

Darryl Hell is a mixed-media experimental artist and musician based in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.. Born in Belmar, New Jersey in 1964, Hell's art life has traversed the full arc from analog to digital, maintaining a position on the bleeding edge of eclecticism and innovation for over 55 years.

He was the bass player for the punk band Public Disturbance during the formative years of hardcore punk. In 1985, Hell founded the industrial project Abstinence — which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary as the longest continually performing industrial band founded by a Black person. As DJ Hell, he holds the singular distinction of being the only first-generation hip hop turntablist to transition to industrial turntablism, making that leap in 1986.

Hell is featured on the upcoming June 2026 album from the Chicago supergroup The Joy Thieves.

Beyond the stage and studio, Darryl Hell is an educator of cultural history and media literacy at the Bronx Academy of Letters — a public middle and high school serving students from under-resourced backgrounds. He is equally active in community development, fusing his punk DIY ethos with experimental artistic methods to build lasting civic infrastructure. He is the founder of an award-winning community park in Bed-Stuy, now celebrating its 12th year.

About the New American Art Gallery

The Foundation for New American Art operates the New American Art Gallery at Westbeth Art Center in Chelsea, New York — a space functioning simultaneously as gallery, classroom, theater, and social sculpture. Its programs prioritize access, experimentation, and the intersection of visual art, performance, community engagement, and civic life.