Summer Benefit at The Watermill Center

On Saturday, July 29, “the BODY: The Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit” will be held at the art center. The evening will feature performances, installations, exhibitions, cocktails and a floating dinner. “the BODY” will honor artist Simone Forti and the late philanthropist, Baroness Nina von Maltzahn.

The benefit will center on the body’s role in art making, taking a broad approach engendered by diverse cultures and mediums, including time-based performance, painting, sculpture and video.

“Most of the works shown during the event will be developed on-site by the artists in the weeks leading up to the benefit,” said Elise Herget, managing director of The Watermill Center. “The artistic process is rarely discussed in favor of the final product, but, as an artist residency program, it is integral to daily life at The Watermill Center. It is a pleasure to allow our audience to see the product of our artists’ time with us.”

The evening features performances and installations by a dynamic roster of international artists, including exhibitions by Guatemalan artist Regina José Galindo and Italian artist Alessandro Di Pietro. Galindo’s “The Body” traces her 20-year career in performance art and poetry.

Curated by Noah Khoshbin, the exhibition at The Watermill Center serves as an overview of her influential and award-winning works.

“Ghostwriting Paul Thek: Time Capsules and Reliquaries,” curated by Peter Benson Miller and Cornelia Mattiacci, engages with the center’s collection of works by the late Paul Thek to explore an imagined history in which Thek did not die prematurely, continuing the late artist’s practice posthumously. “Ghostwriting Paul Thek” opened on June 24 and “The Body” opens July 29, in conjunction with the benefit.

“the BODY” also includes projects and presentations by The Watermill Center’s summer artists-in-residence, including Thomas Anderson (United States), Yunseo Choi (Republic of Korea, Germany), Afra Al Dhaheri (United Arab Emirates), Evelyn Dugan (United States), Xuetong Cecilia Feng (China, Germany), Casilda Madrazo (Mexico), Katimari Niskala (Finland), Sorin Prodea (Romania), Johan O.R. Sterner (Norway, Denmark), Ismael Reyes Romero (Chile), Anthony Roques (France), Dovydas Strimaitis (Lithuania, France), Lyuba Todorova (Bulgaria) and Agathe Vidal (France). Additional performances will be mounted by Ola Maciejewska (Poland, France) who was a 2022 Performing Arts Fellow at The Watermill Center.

“the BODY” will close with a workshop restaging of Robert Wilson’s “Ubu,” inspired by Alfred Jarry’s 1896 classic, “Ubu Roi,” a critique of war and totalitarianism. Originally presented at the Es Baluard Museum in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, “Ubu” is a surreal reflection of paradoxical inequalities throughout history and the modern day. The production will be presented outdoors and feature summer artists-in-residence as performers. “Ubu” is presented by invitation of Imma Prieto, Director of Es Baluard Museum.

For more information about the benefit and The Watermill Center, visit watermillcenter.org. The Watermill Center is at 39 Watermill Towd Road, Water Mill. For more information, visit watermillcenter.org or call 631-726-4628.