Fly Into the Sun

2017.07.31
Watermill Center, Watermill, New York, U.S.A.

Water Mill, New York – On Saturday night, July 29, 2017, a star-studded crowd of more than 1000 guests joined Robert Wilson and The Watermill Center in celebration of ‘FLY INTO THE SUN,’ the Foundation’s 24th Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit & Auction. Presented for the first time by famed French High Jewelry Maison Van Cleef & Arpels, the sold out event honored Laurie Anderson and Isabelle Huppert in tribute to the late musician Lou Reed. All proceeds from the event benefit The Watermill Center’s Year-Round Artist Residency and Education Programs.

Sporting the evening’s dress code of “Dark Shiny Matter,” luminaries from art, architecture, fashion, music, performance and Hollywood were greeted by adorned tapestries by New York- based artist Jared Madere and specialty cocktails titled “After Hours” by Tequila Don Julio. Guests ascended up The Watermill Center’s grass-lined terraces to “the knee” of the building for a performance by Somos Monstros (Raúl de Nieves & Erik Zajaceskowski) followed by more than 20 site-specific works and performances curated by Noah Khoshbin and Ivan Cheng in tribute to Lou Reed’s life and work, positioned throughout the Center’s 8.5-acre grounds.

Among the showstopping works included a 90-foot wall featuring, the politically charged black and white text reading She Outwits Him / She Outlives Him on the north side while the south facing side of the structure served as a platform for free artistic expressions by young Summer Program Participant artists, Jokubas Nosovas, Nikitas Broukakis and Sam Khoshbin, as well as attendees who left their own multi-colored marks in spray paint. With the sun setting in the backdrop, performances highlighted along a tiki torch-lined path included Storyboard P’s Formless Expressions, Kate Gilmore’s Beat, Nile Harris’s Monkey on His Back (Love Laboratory) featuring a man nearly buried under a towering pile of bananas, Stephen Shanabrook’s performance of a headless man with cotton candy left for brains, and a chilling performance piece titled Salute by Croatian artist Vesna Mačković, as well as works by artists including Dana Davenport, Rachel Frank, Christopher Knowles, Xu Zhen, and more. Throughout the cocktail portion of the evening, from 6 to 8pm, guests mingled amidst photographers and friends, enjoying passed hors d’oeuvres and installations as they drifted in and out of the silent auction tent which featured more than 100 lots by artists including: Lindsey Adelman, Carlos Bunga, Saint Clair Cemin, Candida Hofer, Joseph Kosuth, Annie Leibovitz, Raúl de Nieves, Hani Rashid, James Rosenquist, Paul Thek, Rosemarie Trockel and Carrie Mae Weems, among others.