MOCA's gala as 'happening,' with country auctioneers as performers

 
 
It was clearly an experiment. Could Doug Aitken transform Saturday's MOCA gala into something that did not feel like a gala but an artistic experience that he called a "happening"? And could the improvisatory, participatory spirit of a happening survive the fact that it was being promoted as such by a museum trying to sell $5,000 seats for it?

As it turns out, the night had elements of formal gala and artist performance both. As you might expect, salad, protein and dessert were served, in that order. Guests kissed and gossiped. Celebs such as Kirsten Dunst, Chloë Sevigny, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale posed for pictures. There were short speeches by MOCA benefactor Eli Broad, museum director Jeffrey Deitch and board co-chair Maria Bell (who announced that the event had raised about $3 million -- after flubbing and saying that the event had raised $300 million.) Gift bags from Chanel were handed out. Valet tickets were handed in.

Then there were some unusual, mainly percussive, touches. The entrance to the dinner tent was lined with a drum angle (not quite a triangle or circle). The percussionists wore sweatshirts that said things like "big, hot and beautiful" -- different "ideas of the West" that Aitken collected in book form. Those books were given out to each guest. And the performers inside were not your usual gala fare, reflecting Aitken's longstanding interest in music and sound, more than an event planner's go-to list.

Toward the end of the night, Aitken used a chorus of fast-talking country auctioneers to accompany percussionists who played on hollowed-out wood dining tables of his own design. (He had previously used the auctioneers in his 1998 video "These Restless Minds," his 2007 MoMA "happening," tied to his massive "Sleepwalkers" installation there and a 2009 "opera" in Basel, Switzerland.)

Earlier, Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso joined Beck, who had joined Devendra Banhart onstage, and all three performed together in a multilayered piece.

One of my dinner companions was impressed. "I am obsessed with Caetano Veloso," she said, whipping out an iPhone loaded with his music. Another shook her head, saying that it was "sweet" but that it  didn't hold a candle to the flashy Francesco Vezzoli/Lady Gaga production last year.

"Caetano Veloso is no Lady Gaga," she added. And whether that struck them as good or bad, everyone could agree on that.

--Jori Finkel
www.twitter.com/jorifinkel

Photos: Top, rocker Anthony Kiedis talks with singer Gwen Stefani at the MOCA "happening" Saturday night. Behind them is producer Brian Grazer. Just above, designer Marissa Ribisi with her husband, Beck,  with Will Ferrell and his wife, Viveca Paulin, at the gala. Credits: Top, Jeff Vespa/Getty Images for MOCA. Above, John Shearer / Getty Images for MOCA

RECENT AND RELATED

 What is the West? From sunsets to gangbangers, 1,000 takes in Doug Aitken's new book

Art review: 'The Artists' Museum' at MOCA

Museums roll out the red carpet for Hollywood 

Folk rock is happening at this year's MOCA gala

MOCA Los Angeles Gala: Stefani, Kunis, Bilson, Ferrell and herds more celebrate a 'culture collision'

Comments

[rachelmiller]

What exactly does that last sentence mean? Caetano Veloso is no Lady Gaga? That's like saying Bob Dylan is no Justin Bieber. Are you insane or were you sitting with the stupidest people in the world (or maybe the MOCA board, which is probably the same thing.)
If you don't understand that Caetano Veloso is one of the most influential musicians of the second half of the 20th century and you couldn't hear his exquisite music and don't understand that you were truly privileged then you didn't deserve to even be in his presence. And that is true of most of the people there. They want the same thing from music that they want from art - big splash, none of that silly meaningful stuff to deal with.
Pearls before swine.

[fnln]

How about some sense of humor, rachelmiller? That last sentence was obviously meant as irony. Seriously though, difference of tastes is a fact of life.

[Henry Woodland]

Where were all the stars? Gwen Stefani is great but that's it? Lackluster, Beck is no Angie and Brad.

[Nadya S.]

I love Caetano Veloso. He's the most wonderful musicians of our time.

[rachelmiller]

Since there is no irony in the article - I don't think the author just randomly introduced it at the very end. If you see irony there - it's because you want to. And yes difference of taste is a fact of life as is the tremendous importance and influence of Caetano Veloso whose career spans 50 years. Another fact would be that there is no one in LA with any knowledge of music who would even compare a musician of his quality with a pop star (and I have nothing against a good pop star - I was at the gala with Lady Gaga too and thought she was really fun.)
But see...we're talking about culture and we make judgements about art and films and music and theater all the time. And we separate the midcult and the masscult from the best. So it is indeed sad, that when a gift like Caetano Veloso is presented to an audience of 1000 supposed arts-supporters, they wouldn't know a thing about him. And sad too that this writer couldn't get up and walk around and talk to a few other people and find out about Caetano but wrote her article based on the quality of the people sitting on either side of her.

[artalamode]

I was jealous this weekend because Moca had Caetano!. Please, never compare Caetano to Gaga.... and don't mention it in an article... Those are the kind of dialogues you keep to your self.. or rather, they serve as gossip you share with your friends and not a large audience...

I feel as if the whole purpose of the article was to help you decide whether you like(d) Caetano.... I was hoping to see pictures of Veloso's performance that night...

Nine out of Ten - Caetano Veloso
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhhaQINE3a0

[fnln]

An article that contains passages such as:
"As you might expect, salad, protein and dessert were served, in that order.", as well as
"Gift bags from Chanel were handed out. Valet tickets were handed in."
- clearly has a bit of irony on its mind. And the ending uses this kind of irony to underline a situation that may indeed be sad, for the reasons that you have mentioned.
It looks to me like the author of this article actually agrees with you, rachelmiller, on several points, so you can relax a bit and just give the readers of a cultural blog a little more credit than you seem to do.

[MyOpinion]

I've been to a lot of auctions and, believe me, I would not call those auctioneers "country". I spoke to them after the dinner and found out that many of them are even american and world auction champs. Apparently doug aitken has used them for other events too - they were amazing.

[Lovefingers]

the whip performer was amazing... and very loud. caetano was a dream come true for me, regardless of the circumstances or the crowd... there were enough people there who were familiar with him and appreciated what it meant that he was playing... i've got no complaints. there is also a book, its pretty nice.

[rachelmiller]

A great review of the music:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/11/home-in-the-wild-west-devendra-banhart-beck-and-caetano-veloso-at-moca.html

[fnln]

That other article, referred to by rachelmiller above, is indeed a review, while this one is not. The function is different - therefore so is the content.