2424 Studios’ “The Titan and the Fireflies” exhibit narrowly misses Making Time beerfest danger
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| Jason Hackenwerth |
I went to the opening reception for Jason Hackenwerth’s exhibit, “The Titan and the Fireflies,” at 2424 Studios (2424 E. York St., 215-423-1800) this Friday. And I worried. (For some reason, senior editor Patrick Rapa didn’t.) Making Time Halloween was going to be held there the very next night, and Hackenwerth’s enormous, fragile pieces are made completely out of balloons. Sweet, tempting, pop-able balloons. Surely some drunk Where the Wild Things Are character would wreck the whole thing. Which would be a shame, because the work is weirdly cool. The pieces look like giant underwater creatures, or something Wayne Cohen would whip out at a show … and when you look inside them, it’s like peering into something’s guts.
Thankfully, the folks over at 2424 Studios have some sense, and lifted the artwork via pulley away from all the dancers’ grubby hands. “We raised them completely, so nothing happened,” leasing manager Jessica Ruck told Critical Mass.
The show will be up through Nov. 28.
And if you’re curious about how the hell Hackenwerth creates these huge balloon specimens — let alone what art class he took to learn such things — the video below helps.








