On August 31, a PopRally and DISMagazine party celebrated the closing of wunderkind artist Ryan Trecartin's "Any Ever" exhibitionat MoMA PS1 with drag queens, live performances, and bodybuilders. Theorganizers even plucked a 15-year-old rapper named Glass Popcorn from obscurity, putting him on stage during the festivities. Playing a four-song set as drag queens and a buxom, scantily-clad black woman dancedalongside him, the tow-headed tyro wowed PS1's hipster crowd. 

DIS invited Glass Popcorn (aka WillNeibergall), a pint-sized teenager from Tempe, Arizona, complete with a Justin Bieberhairdo, to perform at PS1 after hearing about him from Ryder Ripps, the 25-year-old artist and creator of GIF-oriented internet art site Dump.fm. "Fora long time we weren't sure if Will was real," DIS Magazine editor Lauren Boyle admitted to ARTINFO. "We thought that maybe Ryder made him up. It wasn'tuntil I started emailing to Will and his mom, Nora, that we were sure he was real."

Making music inhis bedroom with a USB microphone, Glass Popcorn first uploaded his songs onto Dump.fm atthe tender age of 13, selecting — for reasons he can't remember — the username glasspopcorn. The moniker stuck. "At the time I knew people would listen to it,but I assumed it wouldn't be taken seriously as artistic expression," GlassPopcorn told ARTINFO.

Impressed by Glass Popcorn's presence on Dump.fm, Ripps befriended the teenager, communicating with him through AIM. "Isuppose I really liked his energy," wrote Ripps in a DIS Magazine pieceexplaining his relationship with the rapper. "I don't remember caring moreabout music and ideas and drugs and fun and doing stuff and hating stuff andlusting for things more than when I was like 13." The two eventuallyteamed up, and now write and produce music and lyrics together, emailing compositionsback and forth until they feel the piece is just right.

"We like to keep inmind the importance of keeping my music relevant and silly," according to GlassPopcorn, who said he is inspired by "the sillieraspects of the cultural and counter-cultural ideas that members of mygeneration form and subscribe to, as well as my generation's incredibleinvolvement with the Internet and social media." He added, "I'm inspired by my ability to observe things about my generation thatmy peers don't."

When Glass Popcorn got the call toperform in New York, he felt "confused, but ecstatic," he said. A few weeks later on August 30, he and his fatherhopped on a plane from Tempe to New York for the party, skipping three days of the student's sophomore year of high school in the process. Before the show, Glass Popcorn rehearsed in and around Greenwich Village, grabbing meals with Ripps.

As for the rapper's opinion on Trecartin, whose show was the reason for Glass Popcorn's star turn? "Ryan'sexhibition was relevant and exhilarating," he said. "What many referto as 'sensory overload' or 'oversaturation' in his work seemed to me to be hisway of conditioning us to an incredible new way of perception andunderstanding. His work is unique and very cool, and I feel great to have beena part of this celebration of it." And yes, the two met during the party. "Hewas very nice and supportive," Glass Popcorn said.

Ripps, meanwhile, sees big things in the future for himself and his young collaborator. "I think glasspopcorn and I willget famous together," he declared in DIS Magazine.