Hannah Perry's 'Viruses Worth Spreading' at Arsenal Contemporary Explores Digital Heartbreak

British artist Hannah Perry presented her solo exhibition 'Viruses Worth Spreading' at Arsenal Contemporary in New York from May 3 to July 2, 2017. The show featured a performance where Perry typed on a laptop while smoking, surrounded by performers interacting with foam blobs, evoking emotions like longing and anger. Works included prints on Plexiglas and aluminum, such as 'A Phone Full of Friendzones', 'Size Queen', and 'Hey Papi', which collaged text messages and iPhone images. Another piece, 'Summer of Blocking', archived threats against a lover on Plexiglas, ending with 'block myself'. Sculptures like 'Pretty' and 'Trauma Junky' incorporated broken car parts to aestheticize car crashes, reflecting desires for extreme experiences. A four-channel video, 'Cry Daggers', juxtaposed music videos with personal recordings of taxi rides and road trips, alongside animated text musings. The exhibition connected Perry's post-breakup journey to digital mediation, exploring how personal emotions become data online. It also referenced her interest in working-class aesthetics from Northwest England, with floor-based sculptures featuring synthetic hair, steel, and plastic-wrapped duvets. The press release noted the synthesis of abstract entities under culture and ritual. The show was reviewed in the Summer 2017 issue of ArtReview.