An Ethereal Evening of Performance at the Watermill Center

Photos from one of the premiere art events of the summer.

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THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
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THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Watermill Summer Benefit. Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Jim Jarmusch
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Bob Colacello
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Vivienne Tam
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
Fabiola Beracasa
Fabiola Beracasa
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Liliana Cavendish, Hunt Slonem
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
Stacey Engman
Stacey Engman
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
Michaela de Pury, Simon de Pury
Michaela de Pury, Simon de Pury
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
Anne Hearst McInerney, Jay McInerney
Anne Hearst McInerney, Jay McInerney
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Zaldy, Dmitry Komis
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Nazy Nazhand
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Kim Heirston Evans, Richard Evans
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Joy Marks, Victor de Souza
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Fern Mallis
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
Tripoli Patterson, Jackie McKay
Tripoli Patterson, Jackie McKay
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Constance Jablonski
Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
artnet News Editor-in-Chief Ben Genocchio, Melissa Chiu
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Daniel Arsham
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Leila Heller
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Jim Jaramusch, Isabelle Huppert, Kim Cattrall, Robert Wilson, Inga Maren Otto
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
THE WATERMILL CENTER’S 21st ANNUAL SUMMER BENEFIT
Sheikha Paula Al-Sabah, Inga Maren Otto
Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
One Thousand Nights and One Night: The 21st Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit 2014
Pinki Patel
Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
One Thousand Nights and One Night: The 21st Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit 2014
Liddy Berman, Susi Kenna
Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
One Thousand Nights and One Night: The 21st Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit 2014
Henry Heller, Leila Heller
Photo: Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com
One Thousand Nights and One Night: The 21st Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit 2014
Di Mondo, Sheikha Paula Al-Sabah, Leila Heller, Jean Shafiroff
Patrick McMullan /PatrickMcMullan.com

The Watermill Center‘s 21st Annual Benefit and Auction—one of the most anticipated events of the Hamptons social calendar—exceeded expectations this year with a bazaar-inspired evening of drama and spectacle. Guests entered the premises through a wooded pathway transformed by Annick Lavalee-Benny’s breathtaking cloud installation, passed through an obtrusively rocky room (we witnessed at least one high-heeled guest take a spill) which featured the musical stylings of Jim Jarmusch, and finally emerge on the other side to a flurry of photographers and a line of silver platters bearing custom cocktails.

27 other site-specific performance installations helped breathe life into the eight acre campus, which guests explored at their leisure. The spirit of performance was inescapable, and witnessing otherwise strange activity quickly became par for the course. While attendees mingled, a shirtless man scaled the facade of the building amidst silver streamers. In the woods, several spaghetti-headed minions payed homage to their leader, a friendly monster entirely covered in what appeared to be pasta. Meanwhile, a woman adorned in just a crown of flowers emerged from a hole in the ground to sing opera.

Watermill Artistic Director Robert Wilson‘s video portraits of Lady Gaga (who was unfortunately physically absent this year) were also on view. After cocktails, guests were seated for dinner and an auction conducted by the legendary Simon de Pury, featuring works by Robert Wilson, Frank Gehry, Anselm Keifer, and Ran Hwang. The night came to an end with dancing, desserts, and several last-minute bids at the silent auction.


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