WATER MILL FOUNDATION CELEBRATES 25TH ANNUAL BENEFIT & AUCTION ‘TIME BOMB’

On Saturday, July 28th, The Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation welcomed over 1,000 guests to their Water Mill, NY location for TIME BOMB: The 25th Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit & Auction sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels. The evening honored the late Pierre Bergé, who was the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent and a founding benefactor of The Watermill Center. The evening featured color-infused art installations and performances, as well as distinguished guests like Marina Abramović to raise a total of $2.2 million in vital funding.

Guests poured onto the grounds of the Watermill campus to enjoy the works by over 100 international artists, curated by Noah Khoshbin and Ivan Cheng. Some of the artists featured included Laurie Anderson, Davide Balliano, Yto Barrada, Bäst, CocoRosie, Dawn Kasper, Christopher Knowles, Baboo Liao with Adrian Damian & Mariano Marquez, NoodleRice, OSGEMEOS, Anna Papathanasiou, Flavio Pezzotti, Georgia Sagri, Stephen Shanabrook, Shoplifter A.K.A. Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, and Nari Ward.

At dusk, 600 guests proceeded to the dinner tent where hand lit lanterns illuminated the space. Watermill Founder Robert Wilson dedicated the evening to his late friend, Pierre Bergé by sharing praises alongside Bergé’s former partner, Madison Cox. Both cherished Bergé’s influence on French culture and politics as well as his ability to combine art and business.

Simon de Pury then led the evening’s silent auction. This year’s auction featured works by William Quigley, Miya Ando, Les Rogers, Ross Watts, Dawn Kasper, Rachel Lee Hovnanian, Richard Barnes, Michael Dweck, Marja Samson, Katherine Bernhardt, Dinesh Boaz, Kembra Pfahler, Jo Ann Callis, Edward Mapplethorpe, Nichole Nadeau, Leila Jeffreys and other works from The Watermill Collection. Helga Davis closed the auction with a rendition of Coming Home by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon from a production with Watermill origins: The Temptation of St. Anthony. Guest donations to fund the year-round residency program also took place at this time. The 25^th annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit & Auction raised a total of $2.2 million in vital funding.

Guests at the 25^th annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit & Auction included Marina Abramović, Isabella Rosselini, Peter Beard, Lisa Anastos, Maria (Pessino) Bacardi, Joan Bankemper, Ariane Batterberry, Christopher Beckman, Danny Bennett & Hadley Spanier, Katharina Otto-Bernstein & Nathan Bernstein, Brodi Borchardt and Gregory Borchardt, Sonja & Martin Brand, Michael Braverman, Christine Wächter-Campbell & William I. Campbell, Bianca Casady and Sierra Casady (CocoRosie), Lady Liliana Cavendish, Alain Coblence and Nicholas Coblence, Bob Colacello, Madison Cox, Alina Cho, Blair Voltz Clarke, E.V. Day, Mel Dogan, Lisa & Sanford Ehrenkranz, Charles Fabius, Wendy & Roger Ferris, Jürgen & Anke Friedrich, Amanda & Glenn Fuhrman, Addis Goldman, and The Untitled Magazine‘s Indira Cesarine among others.

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