In 2009, Variety Event at the New Museum was organized by Rhizome as part of the New Silent series. Vienna-based collective VVORK presented a contemporary variety show, composed of daring and experimental translations of original artworks. VVORK is a website (vvork.com) and curatorial project by artists Aleksandra Domanovic, Oliver Laric, Georg Schnitzer, and Christoph Priglinger.

Variety was inspired by how media of all kinds—sound, moving image, graphics—cycle easily between states and forms. For this one-night event, local performers staged works by artists Wojceich Kosma, Vladimir Nikolic, Tao Lin, Kristin Lucas, Adrian Piper, Pierre Bismuth, and Claire Fontaine. Comprising readings, video, performance, dance, and music, Variety presented the acts together in a dramaturgy that could be understood as a single performance, allowing for new interpretations of each piece. When finished, the evening was carried on as a single score, with instructions for how it can be repeated at different venues in the future.

The New Silent was a series of programs, presented by the New Museum and organized by its affiliate organization Rhizome, that explored contemporary art engaged with emerging technology and examined the ways digital technologies alter our lives and experiences of urban spaces. The series comprised screenings and performances, as well as a critical conversational strand, which brought together leading scholars, artists, critics, and public figures to illuminate the complex interactions between technology, culture, and creative practice. Named for the generational theories of Neil Howe and William Strauss, the New Silent presented artists working at the furthest reaches of technological experimentation as well as those responding to the broader aesthetic and political implications of new tools and media.