Of course, the color of the evening also fits perfectly with the associated expectations: “Green Varieties” is the dress code for the “Midsummer Night” in the Haus der Kunst. Since the circle of friends is organizing this gala on the terrace behind the house, the robes of the 350 gala guests, glowing in all shades of green, compete with the lush green backdrop of the English Garden that evening. But hope is also green, so they say, and there is great hope that as much money as possible will be raised at the benefit auction for the benefit of the Haus der Kunst. In the end it’s about 250,000 euros, which – when announced with the words “a quarter of a million” – sounds like a lot more.
At first glance, this seems rather modest compared to previous auction results. The 35 lots in the previous year brought in around 600,000 euros. In the pandemic year 2020, when people were lucky enough to find a gap in the lockdown in late autumn, more than 940,000 euros were raised thanks to the more than 50 works that were auctioned live and online.
But Alexandra von Arnim, who now heads the circle of friends as Silvia Langen’s successor, was obviously happy when she was able to announce this year’s auction proceeds for the 24 lots. The money will be used to finance the exhibition “Calling” by Meredith Monk in the Haus der Kunst next autumn. Like all lots that Christie’s auctioneer and the chairman of the board of trustees Dirk Boll auctioned that evening, have something to do with the Haus der Kunst – an innovation at the benefit gala.
Sophie-Alexandra Evekink, Princess Sophie, (l.), Alexandra von Arnim, Chairwoman of the Board of Friends Haus der Kunst, and Alexandra von Eltz (r.).
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
Guests include artists such as British artist Sarah Morris, who will be exhibiting at Espace Louis Vuitton this fall as part of the Various Others art initiative, and artists such as filmmaker and author Alexander Kluge; Museum directors such as Matthias Mühling from the Lenbachhaus, Marina Pugliese, director of MUDEC Milan, as well as the former Haus der Kunst director, hapless Berliner Volksbühne boss and current general director of the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Chris Dercon, – who after his speech must have rushed from the Residenz to the Haus der Kunst in the Academy of Fine Arts. Aristocratic guests such as Stephanie von Pfuel, Alexandra von Eltz, Christiane zu Salm and Sophie von Bayern, who was recently married to the Wittelsbacher, also enjoy the beautiful charity evening.
This year’s topless are a work on paper by Rirkrit Tiravanija (35,000 euros), who recently exhibited here and created the stage design for the opera “Hanjo” by Toshio Hosokawa in cooperation with the Bavarian State Opera. State Opera director Serge Dorny is therefore one of the honorary chairmen of the evening and because he appreciates the cooperation with Andrea Lissoni, the director of the Haus der Kunst, as he emphasizes.
The work “Queendom” by Ilit Azoulay was delivered by Ingrid Lohaus (right) and Sofia Sominsky.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
The complex work “Queendom” by Ilit Azoulay, an artist who performed in the Israeli pavilion in Venice in 2022, changes hands for 22,000 euros and goes “into a good collection”, as the consigning gallery owners Ingrid Lohaus and Sofia Sominsky reveal afterwards. An ink work by the experimental performance artist Joan Jonas, who was so acclaimed at her exhibition last year, fetches 19,000 euros, the “Singing Suitcase” by Meredith Monk herself – a wonderfully poetic work – is sold at 15,000 euros, and for a large-format mixed media by Leyla Yenirce, one of the three Ars Viva award winners currently exhibiting and the performance artist of the evening, will be offered for 14,000 euros.
Among the 24 lots of the evening are also seven event lots. One of them is a day of skiing for four people alongside Andrea Lissoni. This day is worth 7500 euros to the highest bidder. As for the museum visits included — it goes to the futuristic, Zaha Hadid-designed Messner Mountain Museum Corones and the Lumen Museum of mountain photography — you couldn’t ask for a more knowledgeable guide. For the ski slopes, one would only wish the lucky ones to be good skiers. Because anyone who has ever seen one of the video posts of Lissoni’s descents on Instagram knows what the man can do – even beyond art.