NEW YORK, NY.- On November 5 and 6, 2014, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrated the 2014 Guggenheim International Gala honoring artists Carrie Mae Weems, whose retrospective was on view at the museum this spring; Heinz Mack, Otto Piene (in memoriam), and Günther Uecker, members of the German artist group Zero, whose work is presented in the exhibition ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s–60s, on view at the museum through January 7, 2015; and Beijing-based contemporary artist Wang Jianwei, whose commissioned work is exhibited in Wang Jianwei: Time Temple, on view at the Guggenheim Museum through February 16, 2015. Over $2.1 million was raised in support of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The 2014 Guggenheim International Gala was made possible by Dior.

The November 6 benefit dinner included honorary chairs Jennifer Blei Stockman, Raf Simons, and Sidney Toledano, and co-chairs Christina Baker, Todd and Katie Boehly, Tina Kim, Phyllis Mack, and Denise Saul. Distinguished guests in attendance included Sarah Arison, Richard Armstrong, Tiqui Atencio, Robert Baker, Camilla Belle, Silas Chou, Anne Collier, Patrick and Mia Demarchelier, Wendy Fisher, Larry Gagosian, Marian Goodman, Brad Goreski, Charline von Heyl, Matthew Higgs, Astrid Hill, Caroline Issa, Alex Katz, Matt Keegan, Zoë Kravitz, William Mack, Jean-Claude and Nicole Marian, Peter Marino, Chiara Mastroianni, Marigay McKee, Marilyn Minter, Bernard Picasso and Almine Rech, Elizabeth Piene, Jean Piggozzi, Olivier Rizzo, Thaddaeus Ropac, Olympia Scarry, Leelee Sobieski, Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis, Jane Trapnell, Willy Vanderperre, Adrian Villar Rojas, Wang Jianwei, Dorsey Waxter, Carrie Mae Weems, Lawrence Weiner, Anna Wintour, and Christopher Wool, among others.

On the occasion of the gala, White Balloon, an inflatable artwork designed by the late artist Otto Piene, filled the middle of the museum’s rotunda. A set of abstract, colorful slides comprising Piene’s The Proliferation of the Sun (2014), a work related to his 1966–67 slide performative installation of the same title, illuminated the surface of the 5-meter white sphere in memory of the artist. The Guggenheim is grateful to the Otto Piene Estate and Sperone Westwater.

The Gala Benefit Auction will take place as part of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Sale on November 12, 2014, and will feature three artworks donated by artists Alex Katz, Jeff Koons, and Carrie Mae Weems. Funds raised from this benefit sale will support the Guggenheim’s exhibitions and educational programming over the course of the next year.

On November 5, the 2014 Guggenheim International Gala Pre-Party, hosted by the Guggenheim’s Young Collectors Council and made possible by Dior, featured a special performance by the music group The xx. The event included guests Noreen K. Ahmad, Daisy Ames, Giovanna Battaglia, Camilla Belle, Liddy Berman, Derek Blasberg, Andrew Bolton, Harry Brant, Thom Browne, Joseph Bunge, China Chow, Anne Collier, Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Fisher, Greta Gerwig, Laura de Gunzburg, Mats Gustafson, Matthew Higgs, Astrid T. Hill, Anne Huntington, Karlie Kloss, Zoë Kravitz, Joey Lico, Laura Love, Chiara Mastroianni, Leandra Medine, Shala Monroque, Ted Muehling, Nicola Peltz, Olivier Rizzo, A$AP Rocky, Camille Rowe, Lauren Santo Domingo, Charlotte Sarkozy, Raf Simons, Willy Vanderperre, and more.