Emerging Brazilian artists fill the rolls at the Watermill Center's artists-in-residence program, so this year, founder Robert Wilson worked with four of them on a Brazilian theme for the center's summer benefit. Watermill special events coordinators Natascha Theis and Meg Griffiths planned the event, which hosted more than 700 guests—including Calvin Klein, Kate Spade, Zac Posen, Ross Bleckner, Brazilian designer Carlos Miele, and architects Peter Marino and Richard Meier—on the center's grounds in Water Mill, New York.
Guests entered via a long, winding, gravel driveway. Waiters stood along a row of tiki torches and offered the evening’s specialty drink, a beleza (Portuguese for “beauty”), made of ginger ale, lime juice, Sambazon Amazon cherry juice, and cachaça.
At the end of the driveway, hostesses in elaborate wine-colored satin skirts and ornate tops served champagne, caipirinas, and hors d'oeuvres. Artist Paula Gabriela created a food and art installation with a table laden with fruit, cheese, and bread. Two models in red skirts made of the same fabric as the tablecloth stood at the center of the table, ate fruit, and chanted, “Alimenta da arte,” or Portuguese for “nourishment for art.” Six life-size sculptures of brains, made of bundled red cables set in clear resin and connected by bright red tubes, topped the table.
Guests descended a wooden staircase to the tented dinner area, where Susan Miller Smith and Wilson set the dining room with 68 tables of varying sizes, all fashioned in the traditional Brazilian colors of yellow, blue, and green. Miniature trees wrapped in coconut fibers and adorned with edible fruit sat on each table. Olivier Cheng Catering and Events served seared red snapper with avocado, orange, and olive for the first course, followed by an entrée of Brazilian shrimp stew with coconut over rice served on colorful 10 1/2-inch glass plates. Dessert was a chocolate coconut rum cake with passion fruit coulis, and guava and cheese empanadas.
After dinner, guests danced to Grupo Saveiro and DJ Rudy or relaxed in cushioned lounges. “It’s a place for people to hang out after dinner,” Carsten Sieberg, the center’s managing director, said of the lounges. “It’s a bit stiff just to have the tables, because guests do want to sit somewhere else.”
The event raised more than $1 million for the center, which is slated to complete the construction of its main building next July.
—Jim Shi
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Guests entered via a long, winding, gravel driveway. Waiters stood along a row of tiki torches and offered the evening’s specialty drink, a beleza (Portuguese for “beauty”), made of ginger ale, lime juice, Sambazon Amazon cherry juice, and cachaça.
At the end of the driveway, hostesses in elaborate wine-colored satin skirts and ornate tops served champagne, caipirinas, and hors d'oeuvres. Artist Paula Gabriela created a food and art installation with a table laden with fruit, cheese, and bread. Two models in red skirts made of the same fabric as the tablecloth stood at the center of the table, ate fruit, and chanted, “Alimenta da arte,” or Portuguese for “nourishment for art.” Six life-size sculptures of brains, made of bundled red cables set in clear resin and connected by bright red tubes, topped the table.
Guests descended a wooden staircase to the tented dinner area, where Susan Miller Smith and Wilson set the dining room with 68 tables of varying sizes, all fashioned in the traditional Brazilian colors of yellow, blue, and green. Miniature trees wrapped in coconut fibers and adorned with edible fruit sat on each table. Olivier Cheng Catering and Events served seared red snapper with avocado, orange, and olive for the first course, followed by an entrée of Brazilian shrimp stew with coconut over rice served on colorful 10 1/2-inch glass plates. Dessert was a chocolate coconut rum cake with passion fruit coulis, and guava and cheese empanadas.
After dinner, guests danced to Grupo Saveiro and DJ Rudy or relaxed in cushioned lounges. “It’s a place for people to hang out after dinner,” Carsten Sieberg, the center’s managing director, said of the lounges. “It’s a bit stiff just to have the tables, because guests do want to sit somewhere else.”
The event raised more than $1 million for the center, which is slated to complete the construction of its main building next July.
—Jim Shi
Related Stories
Guests Go Throught Hoops at Watermill Benefit
Artsy Watermill Event Goes Colorful Cuban
Russian Inspiration at Watermill Benefit
Brazilian artist Paula Gabriela's installation of two live models eating fruit and chanting, "Alimenta da arte" (Portuguese for "nourishment for art”) at the center of a table laden with fruit, cheese, and bread doubled as a food station and entertainment at the Watermill Center's summer benefit.
Miniature trees wrapped in coconut fibers and adorned with edible fruit sat on each dinner table.
A special display adjacent to the bar featured limited edition Havaiana flip-flops designed by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz for sale.
Pairs of yellow fabric-covered cushions were set up in five areas around the dinner tables.
