What: Independent Curators International Annual Benefit and Auction
When: November 17, 2014
Where: Cipriani in the historic Cunard Building
Who: Co-chaired by Noreen Ahmad, Ann Cook, Bridget Finn, and Belinda Keiland, and hosted by Richard Armstrong, Maria Constanza Cerullo, Agnes Gund, Dorothy Lichtenstein, and Svetlana Uspenskaya, the guest list boasted Marina Abramović, Nate Lowman, Mac Premo, Zoe Buckman, Hank Willis Thomas, David Schwimmer, Massimiliano Gioni, Lisa Dennison, and RoseLee Goldberg.
Why: The evening honored collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos (who recently told artnet News that he once asked to sleep in London’s famed Whitechapel Gallery) with the Leo Award, and up-and-coming curator Eva Barois De Caevel (who confessed to the crowd that it was her first time in New York) with the Independent Vision Curatorial Award. There was also a moment of remembrance for Susan Sollins and Nina Castelli Sundell, the co-founders of ICI who both passed away this year.
The Moment: The dessert performance by dancers from the Stephen Petronio Company, who took the stage in costumes that were cut in half down the middle and strapped on, bringing a whole new meaning to the notion of “half naked.”