TIME BOMB
The 25th Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit & Auction
Saturday, July 28, 2018 | 6:00pm-midnight
In tribute to Pierre Bergé
Presented by Van Cleef & Arpels
Described as an enchanted forest and performance art extravaganza, the Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit unites the worlds of art, performance, music, theatre, design, architecture and fashion. All funds raised support The Center’s year-round Artist Residency and Education Programs that provide a unique environment for young and emerging artists to explore and develop new work.
Colorfully attired guests poured across the lush grounds of the Watermill campus to enjoy performances and works curated by Noah Khoshbin and Ivan Cheng. Works by Kira Alker & Elke Luyten, Laurie Anderson, Davide Balliano, Yto Barrada (courtesy the artist & Pace Gallery), Bäst, Oliver Beer, Tania Bruguera, Anne Carson, CocoRosie, Inga Galinyte, Miles Greenberg & Nile Harris, A.M. Homes, Jenny Holzer, Dawn Kasper (courtesy David Lewis Gallery), Amy Khoshbin, Christopher Knowles, Baboo Liao with Adrian Damian & Mariano Marquez, Wangechi Mutu, NoodleRice, OSGEMEOS, Anna Papathanasiou, Cleon Peterson, Flavio Pezzotti, Reynold Reynolds & Patrick Jolley, Georgia Sagri, Annamaria & Marzio Sala (Courtesy Kolumba, Köln), Stephen Shanabrook, Naomi Shihab Nye, Shoplifter A.K.A. Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, Paul Thek, Tassy Thompson, Naama Tsabar with Kristin Müller, Basco Vazko, Carlos Vela-Prado, Nari Ward (courtesy the artist & Lehmann Maupin, New York & Hong Kong) were interspersed to surprise and delight across the 10 acre campus. Karma Automotive graciously provided transportation for guests as well as the opportunity to experience their 2018 Revero.
Specialty cocktails courtesy of Tequila Don Julio, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Gerolsteiner flowed abundantly as guests interacted with the vibrant art installations and performances. As the East End sun started to dip, 600 guests made their way into the dinner tent, where draped lights mimicked the night’s stars, surrounded by hand lit lanterns for full illumination of the evening’s feast for the senses. Baubles from high jewelry maison Van Cleef & Arpels sparkled on the necks and wrists of guests including Marina Abramović and Watermill Founder Robert Wilson. Emcee Helga Davis warmly opened the dinner before handing over the stage to Robert Wilson, who dedicated the evening to Pierre Bergé, his recently passed longtime supporter, sharing words of praise with Pierre’s former partner Madison Cox, for Bergé’s prowess in combining arts and business. Auctioneer Simon de Pury then led an organic flow of holistic support for vital funding of Robert Wilson’s laboratory for the arts.
The evening’s silent auction featured works by William Quigley, Miya Ando, Les Rogers, Ross Watts, Dawn Kasper, Rachel Lee Hovnanian, Richard Barnes, Michael Dweck, Marja Samson, Katherine Bernhardt, Dinesh Boaz, Kembra Pfahler, Jo Ann Callis, Edward Mapplethorpe, and Leila Jeffreys among others, as well as assorted treasures from The Watermill Collection. The live auction went swifty as led by de Pury, and included dinner with Marina Abramović – a lot so popular it went twice – catered by Cipriani, a trio of Keith Haring prints courtesy Tony Shafrazian Foundation, and works by Peter Beard, Nan Goldin, Roy Lichtenstein, Masako Miki, Duke Riley, Tseng Kwong Chi, as well as a Robert Wilson video work. Helga Davis closed the auction portion with a touching rendition of Coming Home by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon from a production with Watermill origins: The Temptation of St. Anthony, flooding the grounds with her soulful voice under the lingering glow of a Full Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse. The auction portion closed with guest donations to fund the year-round residency program, with a slew of individual donations from esteemed guests including Isabella Rossellini.
Distinguished guests included Marina Abramović, Lisa Anastos, Jackie Astier, Maria (Pessino) Bacardi, Joan Bankemper, Ariane Batterberry, Christopher Beckman, Danny Bennett & Hadley Spanier, Katharina Otto-Bernstein & Nathan Bernstein, Brodi Borchardt and Gregory Borchardt, Sonja & Martin Brand, Michael Braverman, Christine Wächter-Campbell & William I. Campbell, Bianca Casady and Sierra Casady (CocoRosie), Lady Liliana Cavendish, Alain Coblence and Nicholas Coblence, Bob Colacello, Madison Cox, Alina Cho, Blair Voltz Clarke, E.V. Day, Mel Dogan, Lisa & Sanford Ehrenkranz, Charles Fabius, Wendy & Roger Ferris, Jürgen & Anke Friedrich, Amanda & Glenn Fuhrman, Addis Goldman, Jamee Gregory and Peter Gregory, Byrd Hoffman Foundation President Claude Grunitzky, Anne Hearst & Jay McInerney, Brett Helsham, Anne Huntington, Jean Philippe Kadzinski and Adrianne Kadzinski, Johanna Keimeyer, Susi Kenna, Kirk Knight, Walid Layadi-Marfouk, Nina & Daniel Libeskind, Maggie Magerko, Edward Mapplethorpe and Michelle Yun, Masako Miki, Delanique Millwood, Igee Okafor, Jon Oringer, Maxwell Osborne, Inga Maren Otto, Tripoli Patterson, Lisa and Richard Perry, Kembra Pfahler, Kathy Prounis, Tatiana & Campion Platt, Polina Proshkina and Yan Assoun, Simon de Pury, Gustavo Pandolfo and Otavio Pandolfo (OSGEMEOS), Othon Prounis and Kathy Prounis, Duke Riley, Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, Isabella Rossellini, Georgia Sagri, Amy Sall, Anastasiya Siro, Jay Sugarman & Kelly Behun Sugarman, James Taylor, Olivia Tedesco, Shen Wei, Watermill Founder Robert Wilson and Shirley Young. OSGEMEOS skillfully DJed the After Party and the dance floor quickly flooded with guests as illycaffè provided sweet palate closers for the vibrant evening.
6:00 cocktails performances silent auction art installations
8:00 dinner live auction performances
10:00 dancing dessert
dress code colorful
#WatermillCenter #WMCbenefit #TIMEBOMB
For all auction inquiries please email auction@watermillcenter.org.
For all press inquiries please email press@watermillcenter.org.
View images from the evening here.
About Van Cleef & Arpels
Founded at Paris’ 22 Place Vendôme in 1906, Van Cleef & Arpels came into being following Estelle Arpels’ marriage to Alfred Van Cleef in 1895. Over the decades, the excellence of the High Jewelry Maison established its reputation across the world. Its emblematic signatures – such as the Alhambra® motif, the Zip necklace or the Mystery Set™ technique – its selection of Pierres de Caractère™, exceptional gems that instill an emotion, and the savoir-faire of its Mains d’Or™, the virtuoso craftsmen of Van Cleef & Arpels’ workshops, have given birth to jewelry and watchmaking collections redolent of dreams and enchantment. Today, the Maison remains faithful to this highly distinctive style characterized by poetry, refinement, creativity and artistic sensibility. Whether inspired by nature, couture, dance or the imagination, it offers the world a gateway to a timeless universe of beauty and harmony.
Van Cleef & Arpels’ constant commitment to creation also finds expression in its various activities as a partner and patron in the cultural field. Reflecting the Maison’s attachment to values of transmission and sharing, these initiatives take place in sectors that it holds dear: they include heritage protection, fine and decorative arts, design, ballet and poetry.