08/16/2026
This National Roller Coaster Day, we’re taking a closer look at EJ Hill’s 2022 exhibition “Brake Run Helix,” in which Hill inverted the experience of riding a roller coaster, transforming it from a shared ritual of joy and terror into an individual performance.
For Hill, roller coasters are public monuments to the possibility of attaining joy — which, as he notes, is “a critical component of social equity.” Focusing on everyday experiences that intermingle with public struggle, endurance, trauma, and joy, whether within athletics, religion, the American education system, or amusement parks. Hill often incorporates his physical presence by performing as part of these projects, explaining that “my body holds the echo or remnant of something,” and works towards a future that elevates those who are frequently not seen and heard.
While one person rode the roller coaster “Brava!” at a time, the coaster’s single cart emerged from behind a two-story velvet stage curtain, moved across the pink tracks, and ultimately came to rest on the wooden stage, while onlookers observed from below.
