At Auction is an immersive theatre work staged as an art auction at Northwestern University. Set in the near future, the performance centers on the posthumous sale of works by Prish, a student artist who has been comically killed as a result of the university’s failing infrastructure. His work is subsequently absorbed into an institutional spectacle presented by Sotheby’s in association with the fictional Peter Thiel Freedom of Speech Institute at Northwestern University.
Through satire and audience participation, At Auction examines the relationships between cultural institutions, corporate power, and the changing face of academic institutions in 2026. Through the absurd transformation of institutional failure into cultural and financial value, the work considers how universities and art-world systems aestheticize crisis, manufacture prestige, and turn even catastrophe into an opportunity for branding and profit.
