On
Monday, November 10, 2008, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
celebrated the 2008 Guggenheim International Gala, its premier annual
fund-raising event. The Gala was chaired by Stephanie Seymour
Brant, Janna Bullock, Danielle Ganek, Agnes and Edward Lee, Amy Phelan,
Kara Ross, Stephen Ross, Jacqueline Sackler, Pamela Sanders, Jennifer
Stockman and Owen Wilson. This year’s celebration was
held at 7 World Trade Center, on the 45th floor, with cocktails and
the auction preview at 7 pm, followed by a live auction and dinner
catered by Olivier Cheng at 8 pm. Major support was provided
by Christie’s, with additional support provided by W Hotels,
the Hess Collection, Oronoco and Fuel.
This year’s event had 500 guests and raised $2.4 million.
Honored at the 2008 Guggenheim International Gala were the ten artists
whose work comprises theanyspacewhatever, the collaborative,
experimental exhibition on view at the Guggenheim Museum this season. These
honorees were: Angela Bulloch, Maurizio Cattelan, Liam Gillick,
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Douglas Gordon, Carsten Höller,
Pierre Huyghe, Jorge Pardo, Philippe Parreno and Rirkrit Tiravanija.
The Guggenheim International Gala was designed and produced by David
Monn. Graphic design studio M/M (Paris), who has collaborated extensively
with many of the artist Honorees participating in theanyspacewhatever exhibition,
contributed a raw, urban style to both the invitations and the décor.
Musical group Brightblack Morning Light, taking an evening off from
their tour for the occasion, performed an extended psychedelic jam. And
as a gift from the Guggenheim to its friends and supporters, limited-edition
art object entitled Primal Stone by Mariko Mori were given
to all guests.
Following the success of years past, a live auction offered works
for bid by major contemporary artists and designers, including a
major sculpture from David Altmejd, new portrait painting by Barnaby
Furnas, a gold-leaf work on paper by Jim Hodges, a wall piece by
Anish Kapoor, a new painting by Karen Kilimnik, a custom portrait
by Ryan McGinley, a photograph from a new series by Marilyn Minter,
and an opportunity to design and commission a small-scale, fully-inhabitable
home by Asymptote architect Hani Rashid. Additionally, a New
Year’s Eve package at the Guggenheim was up for auction, complete
with a private tour of theanyspacewhatever with Chief Curator
Nancy Spector, an artisanal dinner by Olivier Cheng for eight guests
with custom table décor by David Monn, and an overnight stay
for two in the museum’s rotunda at Carsten Höller’s Revolving
Hotel Room—a truly exceptional way to bring in the new
year. The auction was commanded by Christie’s spirited
auctioneer Christopher Burge. Funds raised from the auction
and the Gala support the exhibitions and programming at the Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum.
Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated
to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of
the modern and contemporary periods, through exhibitions, education
programs, research initiatives, and publications. Currently the Solomon
R. Guggenheim Foundation owns and operates the Guggenheim Museum on
Fifth Avenue in New York and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on the
Grand Canal in Venice, and also provides programming and management
for two other museums in Europe that bear its name: the Guggenheim
Museum Bilbao and the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. In early 2013
the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a 452,000 square foot museum of modern and
contemporary art designed by architect Frank Gehry, is scheduled to
open.
