(Sweaty) Art Patrons, Dancing Clowns & Cheerleaders-In-Drag Invade The Hirshhorn After Hours

Be sure to check out all 136 of our photographs from this event HERE and tell us what you were wearing that night!

NORTHWEST -- When you think of the Smithsonian, what comes to mind? For some, the answer might be the Wright Brothers' airplane in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. For others, it might be the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History or a Norman Rockwell painting hanging in the American Art Museum.

But for the hundreds of D.C. residents who turned-out on Friday night for the summer edition of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden's popular After Hours party series, the Smithsonian will forever also be remembered as the place where they first took in an Yves Klein retrospective, before jumping on-stage with a bunch of discoing clowns, and watching a squad of cheerleaders dressed in drag perform. And that was the precisely the point...

First, we have to remember that the Hirshhorn is a modern and contemporary art museum whose job it is to push the envelope of what exactly constitutes "art." Second, the After Hours series is the Smithsonian's way of engaging Washington's community of young professionals; many of whom who grew-up taking field trips as kids to the city's "traditional" museum establishments.

By infusing the museum-going experience with elements of music and performance art (and a cash bar) at night, the venerable institution hopes to remind D.C.'s 20 and 30-somethings of all that it has to offer them during the day as well.

The Hirshhorn's summer After Hours party has almost always been a sold-out affair and Friday's festivities were no different. Ticketholders queued-up around the block at 8 p.m. to gain admission to the city's best party that evening.

For those looking for music and dancing, DJs Matt Bailer and Bil Todd spun a wicked mix of house/disco/pop, set to a digital video backdrop produced by Richard Sawka and Erik Loften. For those looking for art, the museum's circular hallways remained open until 10 p.m. And for those looking for the outrageous, there were live drag performances by Karl Marks, Brandon Joseph Neukam, and Sunrize Highway with a special appearance by Summer Camp (aka DJ Shea Van Horn).

While the heat and humidity were particularly intense that night, the series of bars (this is a 21+ event) that lined the back wall of the courtyard kept the crowd cool and happy as they danced and sweated the night away:

The next Hirshhorn After Hours party will be held in October.

Be sure to check out all 136 of our photographs from this event HERE and tell us what you were wearing that night!