Watermill Center Benefit 'Circus of Stillness… Power Over Wild Beasts'

Watermill, N.Y.  One of my favorite events of the summer is the much anticipated Watermill Center Summer Benefit. This year marked the 22nd year and was named 'Circus of Stillness… the power over wild beasts" and raised over $1.9 Million to support The Watermill Center's year round residency and education programs.

Performance Artist. Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

Our evening's host and founder of the Watermill Center was Robert Wilson dubbed by the media as America's or the World's foremost avant-garde theatre artist, stage director and playwright.

I believe that Robert Wilson is a visionary who goes above and beyond to create what most people can only imagine and make it a reality. In fact, in many instances, the reality of his creations stretches beyond my imagination.  He is a true artist with a distinct vision setting him in a league of his own. A visit to the Watermill Center is a surreal experience.

Charlotte Neville, Susan Shin, Sara Herbert-Galloway, Fern Mallis,

Victor de Souza, and Daniela Zahradnikova. Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

Over 1,200 guests from around the world attended the event on Saturday, July 25th. The distinguished guests - from the worlds of art, performance, theater, fashion, and design - came together to honor Inga Maren Otto, international philanthropist and long-time supporter of The Watermill Center.

Performance artist. Photo: PMc/ PatrickMcMullan.com .

We were greeted by a performance artist wearing small pink balloons and one large balloon that represented his or her head. Imagine 1,200 guests walking single file on thick wood chips through a narrow pathway of tall bamboo trees lit by tiki torches to the sound of distant drums.

Ken Sunshine and Nancy Hollander. Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

After climbing up stairs we were met by more performance artists and waiters dressed in traditional black pants and white shirts serving a multitude of beverages….the caterer was none other than Great Performances Caterers, how fitting!

Inga Maren-Otto (Honoree), Claude Grunitzky, Robert Wilson.

Photo: PMc/ PatrickMcMullan.com .

I decided to wear my new Victor De Souza skirt that will be amongst the fashion designs he launches in his new line this September, feeling that it would be fashionable and just edgy enough for this avant-garde event. Victor de Souza has designed pieces for Lady Gaga and Robert Wilson has worked on her artistic productions, so Victor de Souza's fashions were a perfect choice for the evening.

Performance Artist. Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

I walked in with Victor de Souza and Daniela Zahradnikova who also wore Victor's fashions.  When we reached the top of the stairs, we saw fashion icon and creator of New York City's Fashion Week, Fern Mallis next to Cleon Peterson's red wood figure that stood over ten feet tall.

Kelsey Bennett, Danny Bennett, Sadie Bennett, Lucie Bennett,

and Hadley Spanier. Photo: PMc/ PatrickMcMullan.com .

As we walked through the 8.5 acres of land we were escorted along a path of surrealistic hypnotic visual entertainment.  There was a rock band performing in a small hut, all wearing red with their faces painted, a performance artist dressed in tubes, an artist doing a balancing act, artists sleeping on beds in the woods draped with canvas covers painted by Radames "Juni" Figueroa's.

Performance artist. Photo: PMc/ PatrickMcMullan.com .

Guests cooled off near a performance artist dressed in silver standing in 'rain' pouring down from the trees as she stood in complete stillness with the palms of her hands outstretched to the sky.  We walked through white neon lights that formed a narrow tunnel as we exited the darkness of the trees in the woods into a sunlit field with a drone flying above us, only to be led back into the forest to view an artist dancing and performing yoga on a canvas covered in paint.

Roger Waters and Nathan Bernstein.

Photo: PMc/ PatrickMcMullan.com .

Sierra "Rosie" Casady, half of the musical duo Coco Rosie, performed with her band, another artist wearing horns hung from tall a tree with white swathing all around him and sticks below him as if to represent an animal being sacrificed, a beautiful lady slept on a bed of stone with what appeared to be a metal pendulum hanging over her. Words cannot describe the dreamlike state of the creativity of the artists from the Watermill Center.

Heide Hatry and Elga Wimmer. Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

We exited the woods into a courtyard with a large tent ready for dinner guests and another one that housed the evenings amazing art auction.

Performance artist. Photo: PMc/ PatrickMcMullan.com .

The evening featured performances by  Sierra "Rosie" Casady of CocoRosie, a collaborative installation by resident artists  Cirkus Cirkör , a cloud sculpture by celebrated artist Daniel Arsham , and over two dozen site-specific installations by artists participating in the 2015 International Summer Program featured alongside the works of renowned visual artists,  Cleon Peterson ,  Basco Vazko ,  Gary Garay , and  Radamés 'Juni' Figueroa , among others.

Sara Herbert-Galloway, Simon de Pury, and

Daniela Zahradnikova. Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

Additional highlights included the silent and live auctions hosted by veteran auctioneer  Simon de Pury  which featured over 125 lots donated by world-renowned and emerging artists, such as: Marina Abramović, Uta Barth, Annie Leibovitz, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Ursula von Rydingsvard.

Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley. Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

Among the guests at Saturday night's event were:  artist, Daniel Arsham; writer, Bob Colacello; producer, arts patron, Christophe de Menil; philanthropist, Diana DiMenna; Bill T. Jones and Bjorn G. Amelan of the  Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; designer, fashion pioneer, Fern Mallis; designer, Nicole Miller; actress, Brooke Shields; Public School designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne; curator, Anastasiya Siro; philanthropist, Barbara Slifka; performer, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot; designer, John Varvatos; singer/songwriter, Rufus Wainwright; and musician, Roger Waters.

Tracy Stern, Randy Palumbo, Victor de Souza.

Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

Benefit Co-Chairs included:  Lindsey  and Ian Adelman; Shaikha Paula Al-Sabah; Sonja Bebber and Martin Brand; Giancarla and Luciano Berti; Lisa and Sanford Ehrenkranz; Wendy and Roger Ferris; Laura and Michael Fisch; Anke and Jürgen Friedrich; Barbara Goldsmith; Claude Grunitzky; Josefin and Paul Hilal; Phil Hilal; Maja Hoffmann; Carola and Bob Jain; Calvin Klein; Bonnie Comley and Stewart F. Lane; Dorothy Lichtenstein; Eugenio Lopez; Honorable and Mrs. Earle I. Mack; Anne Hearst McInerney; Joanne Ooi; Inga Maren Otto; Katharina Otto-Bernstein and Nathan Bernstein; Lisa and Richard Perry; Tatiana and Campion Platt; Alexander Soros; Susan Shin; Barbara Slifka; and Christine Wächter-Campbell and William I. Campbell.

Patricia Hearst-Shaw and Anne Hearst McInerney.

The Watermill Center is a place for young and emerging artists to work, learn, create, and grow with each other, Watermill integrates performing arts practice with resources from the humanities, research from the sciences, and inspiration from the visual arts.

Sara Herbert-Galloway and Robert Wilson. Photo: Steve Mack/S.D.Mack Pictures.

Watermill is unique within the global landscape of experimental theatrical performance, and regularly convenes the brightest minds from all disciplines to do, in Wilson's words, "what no one else is doing." True to form, Circus of Stillness was an event that no one else has ever done, the entire evening was an original work of art, from start to finish.

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