“Inferno,” the
16th Annual Watermill Summer Benefit on July 25, 2009, raised a total
of $1.4 million for the Center's year-round international artist
residencies and education programs.
A major contribution to the evening
was the silent and live auctions of artworks donated by the international
artists' community. Highlights included a Douglas Gordon portrait
of Ingrid Bergman presented by Ingrid Bergman's daughter Isabella
Rossellini and Robert Wilson's VOOM Portrait of the Black Panther.
Peter Lindbergh's commissioned portrait went for twice the expected
value. A great success was the artist-in-residence auction item – guests
had the opportunity to sponsor young emerging artist residencies at Watermill.
Other Auction items included works by Andy Warhol, Terence Koh, Elizabeth
Payton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Neo Rauch, William Kentridge.
Shige Moriya's installation, the "Cathedral-within".
Artists-in-residence
such as Sue de Beer, Riverbed Theater, Sophia Jones and En-Tzu Chang
entertained the more than 1000 cocktail guests with installations and
performances. Guests entered through Shige Moriya's tunnel like
installation the “Cathedral-within”. Shige is also the recipient
of the Armani Design Award this year. Highlights included Sue de Beer's “Ring
of Trees, which projected light through 360 degree cylinder in the Knee
Building. Yochai Matos created a 26-foot high light installation “The
Flame” formed with fluorescent lights in the Watermill woods, Sophia
Jones created a giant spider with over 10 puppeteers, children from the
community, walking along the West terrace.
Sue de Beer's “Ring of Trees".
Young performance artist and
upcoming Fall Watermill resident Stephen Vega performed throughout the
silent auction tent, while Taiwanese Riverbed Theater staged various
installations and performances throughout the platforms and woods. Aerial
dancer C. Ryder Cooley dazzled the nearly 600 dinner guests as they entered
the tent, decorated by Watermill participants, as projections flitted
across the tent walls. Martha Wainwright delivered a show stopping surprise
performance of “Stormy Weather” during the live auction. “A
touch of Class” dj'ed in the Auction tent after dinner.
All
of the artwork was produced and installed at the Watermill Center with
the help of over 60 participants from over two dozen countries in the
Center's International Summer Program. Guests at the event included
Isabella Rossellini, Calvin Klein, Rufus Wainwright, Laura Harring, Roger
Waters, Marina Ambramovic, Terence Koh, Nacho Figueras, Ross Bleckner,
Anne Hearst McInerney and Jay McInerney, Bob Colacello, Richard Meier,
Lisa Anastos, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Klaus Biesenbach, Debbie Bancroft,
Eric Ripert, Lisa de Kooning, Christophe de Menil, Tatiana and Campion
Platt, Nicole Miller.
The Gala was supported by LVMH, with beverages
generously provided by Bacardi, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Peroni and
VOSS water. Olivier Cheng Catering and Events catered the event. The
participation of the Taiwanese Artists was made possible through the
generous support of the Taipei Cultural Center in New York.
The Watermill Center was founded in 1992 by theater and visual artist Robert
Wilson on the site of a former Western Union communication research facility
near Southampton, Long Island, about two hours from New York City. Watermill
fosters research into the arts of the stage, to provide young and emerging artists
with a unique environment for creation and exploration in theater and all its
related art forms, and to develop a strong global network transcending age, experience,
social, religious and cultural backgrounds. The Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation
is the operator of the Watermill Center.
