Angelina
Volk
Helen Cammock
Antony Gormley
Farshid
Moussavi
Iwona Blazwick
Francis Alÿs
Giorgio Guidotti and
Jacqueline Euwe
Eva
Langret
Cheyenne Westphal and
Rebecca Tooby-Desmond
Catherine Petitgas
Renee Odjidja
Grace Wales
Bonner
PHOTOGRAPHS: OLIVER HOLMS, GETTY IMAGES
Art-world A-listers gathered in east London for
a sparkling dinner celebrating creative talent
A spirit of collaborative creativity presided over the Whitechapel
Gallery’s annual Art Icon gala dinner, this year honouring Francis
Alÿs. Held in partnership with Swarovski, the event saw guests
including the fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, Frieze
London’s new artistic director Eva Langret and the Turner Prize
winner Helen Cammock sip champagne amid avant-garde
arrangements of acid-hued orchids, before heading through to
the exhibition space for dinner. Over a feast of burratina with black
olives, roast guinea fowl and mandarin orange pâte de fruit, the
gallery’s director Iwona Blazwick warmly thanked her peers for
being a part of ‘our extraordinary community of art enthusiasts’.
Indeed, the strength of support for the east-London institution
was demonstrated by the calibre of the donated auction lots,
including tea with Tracey Emin in her Margate studio and dinner
at t he nea rby restaura nt Bistrot heque w it h Bla z w ick a nd A ntony
Gormley, who whipped out his pocket-size notepad to sketch his
fellow diners the moment his plate was empty. CB
PL AY ING TO
THE GA LLERY
Edited by CHARLOTTE BROOK