With a Splashy Dinner Party and Bash at the Boom Boom Room, Artnet Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary in Style

Sir Anish Kapoor during his speech. Photo courtesy Lauren Colchamiro.

In celebration of Artnet’s 30th anniversary last evening, a crowd of well-dressed luminaries gathered in Tribeca for a dinner party atop Ralph Walker’s glittering Art Deco tower at 100 Barclay.

As guests arrived—some via cars provided by Maserati for the evening—they were escorted to the tower’s penthouse apartment. Once inside the grand space—the largest living room in New York City, which featured soft, romantic lighting, washed concrete floors, and sky-high floor-to-ceiling windows—the attendees were greeted with passed hors d’oeuvres and drinks. A choice of Newton white wine or Hennessy X.O, a unique blend of ‘extra-old’ cognac first invented in 1870, were both provided by Hennessy. As the art world trickled in, light music from a grand piano filtered through the room while guests chatted and caught up with one another.

The penthouse at 100 Barclay. Photo courtesy Lauren Colchamiro.

Once the full party had arrived, everyone sat down to dinner at a long table decorated for the occasion. Twinkling with the light of hundreds of flickering candles, which bounced off the surrounding glassware prepared for wine and tastings of Hennessy Paradis Imperial, the table was beautifully prepared for the evening’s events, with bouquets of white orchids spilling over the sides of tall, cylindrical vases.

The dinner table. Photo courtesy Lauren Colchamiro.

In addition to celebrating Artnet’s milestone achievement of 30 years in business, the party was also held to announce Artnet’s new partnership with Anish Kapoor, the esteemed British-Indian artist, who was the guest of honor for the evening.

One of the most ambitious and visionary artists today, Kapoor is known for such iconic public works as Cloud Gate in Chicago and Sky Mirror in London, and many other installations and sculptures that have been shown at Versailles, the Royal Academy, Tate Modern, the Grand Palais, Rockefeller Center, Kensington Gardens, and elsewhere.

Jacob Pabst kicks off the evening with a toast. Photo courtesy Lauren Colchamiro.

To kick off the evening, Jacob Pabst, Artnet’s CEO, welcomed guests and took a moment to reflect on Artnet’s many achievements, including its triumph in bringing transparency to the art market through the Artnet Price Database and its launch of the internet’s second-ever publication.

Noting that anniversaries are not only about the past, but also about the future, Pabst announced the partnership with Kapoor, explaining that Kapoor’s thought-provoking artworks exemplify Artnet’s own vision of innovation. Appropriately, next year, Kapoor will work with Artnet to install a new site-specific work in a historic New York location.

At the other end of the table, which was dotted with glasses of sparkling amber Hennessy Paradis Imperial, Kapoor stood up to give his own spirited address, in which he thanked Artnet for providing transparency to the market—and, above all, for providing good “gossip.” In a world driven by the marketplace, he noted, it is vitally important for artists to remain “radical.”

A closeup of the Apparatus chandelier. Photo courtesy Lauren Colchamiro.

During the toasts, guests tasted Hennessy Paradis Imperial, which was presented to them on silver trays, as Hennessy’s own Nicholas Streff spoke about the brandy distiller’s ethos of looking to the future while always honoring the past, as Artnet and Kapoor have also done.

Over the course of more than 250 years, eight generations of families have perfected Hennessy’s time-honored art of selection. The Hennessy Paradis Imperial, appropriately, is a singular blend of the collection, upending preconceived notions about older cognacs with its elegant taste, which sparks the palette upon first sip, and then only becomes more complex. There is a reason why Hennessy Paradis Imperial is the crown jewel of Hennessy’s cognacs: from every harvest, only 10 out of 10,000 eaux-de-vie are selected for inclusion in the blend’s unique and subtly sophisticated composition, making it particularly exceptional.

Hennessy Paradis Imperial. Photo courtesy Lauren Colchamiro.

A bottle of Hennessy Paradis Imperial twinkled center stage in the middle of the table as guests dined on a three-course meal provided by Feast & Fetes, the catering arm of DANIEL by Daniel Boulud. The guests—including Jemima Kirke, Anh Duong, Nicholas Logsdail, Alex Logsdail, Hans Neuendorf, Andrew Goldstein, CJ Hendry, Beth Redmond, and Steve Gold—chatted over butternut squash velouté, roasted halibut, braised short ribs in red wine, and a wild mushroom, brussels sprout, and potato mousseline, with Tahitian vanilla poached pears for dessert.

Guests enjoying the dinner. Photo courtesy Lauren Colchamiro.

After taking their coffee and tea, guests headed over to Artnet’s bash at The Standard’s Boom Boom Room, which was lit up in Artnet orange for the evening. There, they enjoyed cocktails, small bites, and music by DJ Aku Orraca-Tetteh (formerly of Florence and The Machine) before heading back out into the New York night.

See more photos from the dinner and party below.