'Siegfrid’s' (2013) by Alex Hubbard. (Courtesy the artist and Maccarone)

The hints of melancholia and breezy bathos that have long made Alex Hubbard’s work so interesting are strongly present in his newest pieces, called “one-person portable drinking bars.” These five Kienholz-worthy stalls are each about the size of two phone booths and stocked with alcohol, complete with a working beer tap. You can saddle up to the bar with its lone chair, pour a drink and enjoy it while staring at yourself in a mirror. It’s playful and humorous—until it gets lonely. Whatever Mr. Hubbard means to get at with these boîtes—the inherently solitary nature of looking at art?—this show, his sophomore outing at Maccarone, has him bringing his typically inventive, light touch to a variety of mediums, and continuing to eschew a signature style, a refreshing stance in a city that all but demands its artists adopt a recognizable brand.

“Bent Paintings,” a recent series of large, thin flexible urethane molds of various little cosmetic bottle-sized objects and the surface they sit upon come in a variety of colors—mandarin, raspberry, lilac and gray—and are flopped over, crumbled up on the ground or hung daintily from the walls. They’re goofball riffs on Daniel Spoerri’s food-strewn tables from the 1960s or maybe even Matthew Barney’s overwrought assemblages. They’re paintings as barely-there objects, unfixed and unstable, as happy on the ground as the wall.

Still from 'Hit Wave II' (2013). (Courtesy the artist and Maccarone)

The real highlight, especially for those fondly recalling Mr. Hubbard’s contribution to the 2010 Whitney Biennial, is a 6-minute video, Hit Wave II (2013), which also maneuvers in painterly realms. It’s made from a number of separate scenes, shot at different angles, which are pieced together into a beguiling collage. Mr. Hubbard appears in the video in a full-body painting suit as he rolls out sheets of primary colored paper, cuts them and sprays paint about. Process and product align. As he wields his tools, a man in a suit, the magician Magical Ramón, stands nearby, performing his own sleights of hand with a deck of cards and a top hat. In a voiceover, Mr. Ramón describes the tricks of his trade. “These guys are doing this every day,” he says, “trying to get your money.” Don’t get hustled, in other words. In a world filled with imitators, Mr. Hubbard has the real touch. (June 1, 2013)

(Courtesy Lyon Bienniale)

For the past few months, the Lyon Biennale has been releasing the names of artists that will have work in its 12th edition, which runs Sept. 12, 2013, through Jan. 5, 2014. Now the full list is out, and it is a handsome one, ranging from established stars like Jeff Koons, Tom Sachs and Yoko Ono to exciting younger artists like Trisha Baga, Helen Marten and Anicka Yi. Some 80 percent of the works are being specially made for the biennale, according to organizers. Other items of note: there will be a Performance Weekend Oct. 19–20, a Video Weekend Nov. 30–Dec. 1 and a Robotics Weekend ("It will be a discussion between artists, researchers and... robots," says a news release). Roe Ethridge shot promotional photos of attractive young people (see the image at left) and a pig.

The full list follows below.

Jonathas de Andrade Souza
Ed Atkins
Trisha Baga
Matthew Barney
Neïl Beloufa
Gerry Bibby
Dineo Seshee Bopape
The Bruce High Quality Foundation
Antoine Catala
Paul Chan
Ian Cheng
Dan Colen
Petra Cortright
Jason Dodge
Aleksandra Domanovi
David Douard
Erró
Roe Ethridge
Edward Fornieles
Gabriela Friðriksdottir
Robert Gober
Karl Haendel
Fabrice Hyber
Jeff Koons
Margaret Lee
Ann Lislegaard
Nate Lowman
MadeIn Company
Václav Magid
Helen Marten
Thiago Martins De Melo
Bjarne Melgaard
Takao Minami
Meleko Mokgosi
Paulo Nazareth
Paulo Nimer Pjota
Yoko Ono
Laure Prouvost
Lili Reynaud-Dewar
James Richards
Matthew Ronay
Tom Sachs
Hiraki Sawa
Mary Sibande
Gustavo Speridião
Tavares Strachan
Nobuaki Takekawa
Ryan Trecartin & Lizzie Fitch
Peter Wächtler
Hannah Weinberger
Ming Wong
Yang Fudong
Anicka Yi
Zhang Ding

Update, 6:30 p.m.: It seems that the initial news release we received with the artist list accidentally omitted two artists. They have now been added.

Art critic Henry McBride, who wrote for The New York Sun in the 1920s, in a 1922 painting by Florine Stettheimer. (Courtesy Smith College)

Since it's a pretty nice day out, I figured it might be an okay time to share some fairly depressing news, which you may have just read in the headline above: there are now less than 10 full-time art critics working at newspapers and magazines in the United States. This comes to us via Deborah Solomon on her recent WNYC appearance. (It seems that Chicago's edition of Time Out laid off its art critic last month.) At least we can all celebrate that the majority of the survivors work in New York.

Ms. Solomon conveyed the sad news as part of a sweet and thoughtful "little prayer for art critics" on air. You can listen to it at the bottom of this post.

Thanks to Walter Robinson for sharing Ms. Solomon's spot on Twitter.

I'm going to go have a drink right now.

Update, 4 p.m.: After posting this and receiving a number of helpful notes from readers, it's clear that I should have included an explanation as to why Ms. Solomon's number sounds about right to me, and a few thoughts about the implications of all this.

The most important question: what is a "full-time art critic?" I'm thinking here of critics on staff at a general-interest outlet, regularly writing bylined articles only about visual art with few, if any, other editorial responsibilities—the model here being the four regular art critics of The New York Times, who generally limit their art criticism, with a few exceptions, to the pages of their newspaper, and whose work in essence serves as a record of art in the city. (It's also a question of economics: how many outlets are there that respect art critics enough to pay them a wage—and yes, provide health insurance—that allows them to focus almost completely on that one job, without having to take on other positions and projects.)

There are clearly many more than 10 critics who are making their living by writing criticism full-time, writing and editing for a variety of outlets. And if you're including people who write or write and edit for specialized art publications, you're dealing with a whole lot more.

But if you are counting in the admittedly strict way I'm thinking of above, you're dealing with a very limited pool that is continually growing smaller. In recent years Newsweek/The Daily Beast, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Time Out Chicago and others have let their art critics go. Some papers and magazines now have arts critics who cover a variety of disciplines and/or have severely limited the scale of their art coverage. (Think of the space for art criticism in the Village Voice today versus 20 years ago.)

What is disappearing is not the art critic—you could argue that, with the expansion of websites and social media, there are now more than ever before—but the tradition of a regularly recurring voice in a widely circulated newspaper or magazine or even alternative paper: people who have the opportunity to expose a wide variety of art to a broad audience on a continual basis.

That's a sad and very real change. But as The Observer's museum critic, Maika Pollack, pointed out, there is a long and rich tradition of poets, painters and novelists writing strong art criticism when the mood strikes, in specialized and general-interest venues. Part-time art critics are sometimes the best art critics, bringing ideas from other fields and experiences. (Arguably the best specialized art critic in New York—at least the most exciting—is also an art dealer and an artist.)

A tradition is dying out, but other models—some new, some old—provide reasons to be optimistic.

Benefit: Fire Island Pines Performance Series Benefit Party
A benefit that includes performances by Tyler Ashley, Megha Barnabas and Ryan McNamara, plus music by Thinner, Lauren Dillard and JD Samson. Hosted by John Early and Ladyfag. —Michael H. Miller
209 Elizabeth Street, New York, VIP 6-8 p.m., after party at 8 p.m. Tickets $25 to $100, available at iheartfireisland.org

Inaugural Hyperallergic ArtTalk: Klaus Biesenbach
Want to hear Klaus talk about "Expo 1?" Want to drink some Pernod? Want to high five Hrag Vartanian? Sure you do! —Dan Duray
The Bedford, 110 Bedford Avenue, entrance on North 11th Street, Brooklyn, 7–9 p.m., tickets cost money and are sold out but you never know

TUESDAY, MAY 21

Party: Cousin George, "Coming Out," at Santos
Art collector George Haddad re-invents himself as Cousin George with this party for his debut album Coming Out. Videos by Luis Gispert, Kalup Linzy and Nate Lowman. Open bar from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. —D.D.
Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette Street, New York, 8–11 p.m.

Talk: Matthew Barney in Conversation with Paul Holdengräber at the Public Library
Matthew Barney at the NYPL, pegged to his new show at the Morgan Library and a new book by Rizzoli. —D.D.
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, Celeste Bartos Forum, New York, $25

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22

Panel Discussion: “62 Years Later” at Robert Miller
In conjunction with its "Untitled (Hybrid)" exhibition about Lee Krasner, which is curated by Kate McNamara, Anne Pasternak, Heather Watts, Lauren Flanigan, Laurie Simmons and RoseLee Goldberg will discuss gender politics in the arts. —M.H.M.
Robert Miller Gallery, 524 West 26th Street, New York, 6-8 p.m.

Opening: Amy Yao, "Skeletons on a Bender," at 47 Canal
Amy Yao, who may be familiar to riot grrrl aficionados for her work in the very catchy 1990s group Emily's Sassy Lime (their records are still available through Kill Rock Stars website), makes unabashedly elegant, beautiful art out of things like umbrellas, chairs, sticks and pearls. The title alone suggests this will be a strong show. —Andrew Russeth
47 Canal Street, New York, 6–8 p.m.

Screening and Conversation: Dennis Oppenheim at EAI
Curator Jenny Jaskey will introduce early films and videos by Dennis Oppenheim, which will be screened as he meant them to be shown, as multiple projections, and then lead a discussion with an exciting bunch of young artists— A.K. Burns, Ajay Kurian and Yve Laris-Cohen—about Oppenheim's work, and its connection to their own. —A.R.
Electronic Arts Intermix, 535 West 22nd Street, Fifth Floor, New York, 6:30 p.m., $7/$5 students, RSVP to rsvp@eai.org

THURSDAY, MAY 23

Opening: Takuma Nakahira, "Circulation: Date, Place, Events" at Yossi Milo
Japanese photographer Takuma Nakahira generated his work for the 1971 Seventh Paris Biennale over the course of a week during the exposition itself, spending seven consecutive days documenting everything he encountered, from breakfast to bouquinistes, and seven nights developing the photographs, which were exhibited the following day. We're eager to see the show, which will include 75 pictures (and to learn his secrets for staying up all week). —Zoë Lescaze
Yossi Milo Gallery, 245 10th Avenue, New York, 6-8 p.m.

Panel: "Where Is Jack Goldstein?" at the Jewish Museum
Art historian Douglas Crimp, who included Jack Goldstein in his seminal 1977 "Pictures" show at Artists Space, and Jens Hoffmann, the deputy director of the Jewish Museum, which is hosting a Goldstein retrospective through Sept. 29, will "discuss Jack Goldstein as a pioneer of conceptual art practices." —A.R.
Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue, New York, 6:30 p.m., free with pay-what-you-wish admission, RSVP required

SATURDAY, MAY 25

Opening: "Ellsworth Kelly: Chatham Series" at MoMA
Ellsworth Kelly spent 1971 creating L-shaped works, each composed of two monochrome canvases, in his Chatham, N.Y., studio, but barely anyone has seen the complete series since. In celebration of the artist's 90th birthday (coming up on May 31), MoMA is reuniting the 14 paintings in its fourth-floor galleries. —Z.L.
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West  53rd Street, New York, 10:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 

Update, May 21: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated the dates for the events at Electronic Arts Intermix and 47 Canal. They take place Wednesday. We apologize for the error.

The coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. (Courtesy Wikimedia)

Felix Salmon on "Cooper Union's shameless trustees." [Reuters]

Twenty Frank Lloyd Wright homes are on the market. Living in one may sound glamorous, but it is may be a lot of work. [WSJ]

Here is a profile of the artist Jeffrey Gibson. [NYT]

Paddle8 is looking to buy a stake in Artnet. [The Art Newspaper]

A roundtable discussion about the changing nature of photography. [The Guardian]

Richard Dorment's latest article on the Andy Warhol Foundation. [NYRB]

Here's an interview with Ellsworth Kelly, who turns 90 on May 31 and whose "Chatham Series" goes on view at MoMA this month: "But one can't help but encourage the artist to talk about, for instance, his brief encounter with Pablo Picasso in Paris after World War II, as Picasso's chauffeured car squeezed past him on a narrow street: "He saw me and smiled and said, 'Do we know each other?' And it was almost like, 'Come in.' And my French was so bad I said [to myself], 'If I get into that car, he'll throw me out in the next five minutes.' "" [WSJ]

Adriana Lara and Gene Beery at Algus Greenspon. [ABAB]

Nathan Whipple plays Taylor Swift. [Sex Magazine]

Some nice news: the first "stock exchange for art" has gone into liquidation in the courts of Luxembourg. [Financial Times]

The official Heathers announcement. (Courtesy Publication Studios)

If the weather reports are to be believed, this is going to be one gorgeous Saturday in New York—a high of about 72, pretty much no chance of rain and just a few clouds in the sky.

It's also shaping up to be a banner day for art books, with at least three major events on tap for May 18, which are listed below.

1. Erin Shirreff is having a book launch to mark the publication of a monograph tied to her shows at the Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston and the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver. This is from 2 to 4 p.m. at Ms. Shirreff's New York gallery, Lisa Cooley, at 107 Norfolk Street in Manhattan.

2. A bunch of authors who have released books on the redoubtable imprint Publication Studios will be reading at the redoubtable East Village bar Heathers, at 506 East 13th Street. The authors on tap are David Knowles, Heather Guertin, Sydney S. Kim and Stephen Boyer. I can only vouch for the quality of Ms. Guertin's book, the uproarious and unusual Model Turned Comedian (2013), but I'd bet that the other ones are pretty good too. This is from 6 to 8 p.m., and will be a "fun, boozy, riotous affair," according to organizers.

3. The introduction to this post was a little bit of an exaggeration. You actually don't have to wait until Saturday to enjoy this last one. Primary Information has been posting a number of catalogues online as part of an exhibition/residency at ICA Philadelphia recently. They just loaded on a book by Yves Klein called Peintures from 1954, when the artist was just beginning his brutally short career. It begins with a wordless preface by Pascal Claude. Wild stuff.

Have a great one.

Douglas. (Courtesy Patrick McMullan Company)

Photographer Stan Douglas has been selected for this year's Scotiabank Photography Award, beating out Angela Grauerholz and Robert Walker. Mr. Douglas will take home a $50,000 prize, have a selection of his work published in a book by Steidl and have a one-person show at Toronto's 2014 CONTACT Photography Festival. (Pretty nice selection of benefits.)

According to CBC, photographer Edward Burtynsky, the chair of the jury and co-founder of the award, said, "Stan Douglas has helped define and enrich the Canadian art and photography landscape with his outstanding artwork."

The bank has posted Mr. Douglas's acceptance speech on YouTube in which he discusses the importance of art photography at a time when images and camera technology are almost omnipresent. Well worth a look, below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ykdDZKJEHcA

Mr. Douglas shows in New York with David Zwirner.

Thanks to Blouin Artinfo for tipping us off to the news.

Maureen Paley and Molon. (Courtesy PMC)

Dominic Molon, the chief curator of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis since 2010, has been hired by the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, in Providence, to serve as its curator of contemporary art. His official title will be Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art.

"Over the course of his career, Dominic has earned a highly respected and admired reputation for his rigorous, wide-ranging curatorial point of view," the RISD Museum's director, John W. Smith, said in a statement released to press.

Before coming to St. Louis, Mr. Molon served as curator and acting curatorial department head for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Though he's forged his career in the Midwest, Mr. Molon has an East Coast connection: he earned his master's degree in art history and criticism from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Marian Goodman and Butler. (Courtesy Patrick McMullan Company)

Los Angeles's Hammer Museum announced today that it has hired Connie Butler to serve as its chief curator, taking the place of Douglas Fogle, who stepped down about a year ago. Ms. Butler was already bound for L.A. to curate the museum's 2014 "Made in L.A." biennial with Michael Ned Holte. She had served as chief curator of drawings at the Museum of Modern Art since 2006.

Ms. Butler's curatorial credits at MoMA included "Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955–1972," "On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century" (2010), "Greater New York 2010 (as a co-curator) and "Paul Sietsema" (2009).

But that's not the only action at the Hammer. Aram Moshayedi, currently associate curator at Redcat in L.A., has also been tapped to serve as curator at the museum.

Thanks to Carol Vogel of The New York Times for tipping us off to the news.

Tate Americas Foundation

A few blocks uptown, as the Vito Schnabel/David Rimanelli affair was getting underway in a disused space on the south end of the James A. Farley Post Office, guests for the Tate Americas Foundation’s triennial artists dinner—Anne Hathaway, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bravo’s Andy Cohen and an array of artists (Lawrence Weiner, Julie Mehretu, Frances Stark and Charline von Heyl) and their dealers—were streaming into the Skylight event space on the north end for cocktails.

“Art matters—art changes lives, it changes opinions, it changes points of view—and you all have changed Tate and all of us for the better,” the foundation’s chair, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, told the hundreds of guests. Nicholas Serota, Tate’s director, credited Ms. Fisher with insisting, “even in the middle of what in Europe we continue to regard as a recession, to do an evening of this kind.” And then Simon de Pury, perhaps missing his days as an auctioneer, put in what was, even for him, a positively relentless performance for the charity auction, selling off a variety of experienced-based lots.

The chance to have Nathan Carter assist with Christmas decorating sold for $11,000. A “career-guidance lunch” with the editor of Harper’s Bazaar, Glenda Bailey (“that’s something I’m particularly keen on having!” Mr. de Pury crowed), made $15,000.

The next lot was a day of shopping with Sarah Jessica Parker, plus a $5,000 gift certificate for Dior, a big Tate sponsor. “Sarah Jessica Parker is a person oooozing, oozing, oozing unbelievable charm," Mr. de Pury offered. "I mean, it's incredible. I once had the privilege in my previous life…to spend a split second with Sarah Jessica Parker in a reality TV show, Bravo, which changed my life.” (The two were on Work of Art together.) That topped out at $45,000, with Ms. Parker agreeing to two shopping trips.

For the last of the six lots, Mr. de Pury turned to Greek collector Dakis Joannou and his wife Lietta: “You know what's good, you know what's important, you know what's beautiful, and you know it long before anyone else! What you have done over the years is nothing short of amazing. And, amongst other things, you have an incredible yacht, the 115-foot yacht Guilty. Now, you know, there are one or two people who have even longer or bigger yachts than yours, but nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody else in the world has a yacht that was designed by Jeff Koons!” A week aboard the boat sold for $170,000. “The Phelans and the Rachofskys are going to have a divine, unforgettable time all aboard the Guilty!"

Curatorial travel donations were hammered off at $20,000 one by one. Suddenly R. H. Quaytman was out of her seat and making a donation, bringing the whole artist theme of the dinner full circle. Using Mr. de Pury’s mike, she dedicated her donation to Tate curator Mark Godfrey. “But I don’t think you should auction off curators!” she said, completely deadpan.

“No, no, we’re not auctioning off curators, we’re auctioning off tickets for curators,” Mr. de Pury said. He brought his hammer down on Ms. Quaytman’s table and then bounded away.

“Thank you so, so much, Madam. Another $20,000. Thank you!”

A Second Anniversary for Artspace

On Thursday, Frieze opened at 11 a.m. to torrential downpours that quickly cleared, and by mid-afternoon the sun was shining over the East River, as the first groups began decamping by ferry and car from Randall's Island for openings and celebrations around town. Mr. Koons's show at Gagosian's West 24th Street space opened right on time, a line stretching down by the block by half past 6.

In the stately James Burden Mansion on East 91st Street, the newly minted strategic director of Artspace, collector and patron Maria Baibakova, hosted a dinner in honor of the art-commerce site's second anniversary. At the risk of sounding naive—I've seen lots of beautiful things!—it was easily one of the most beautiful spaces I have ever been in in New York. Warren and Westmore, the architects of Grand Central Station, designed the building in 1901, which is now home to the Sacred Heart school.

Ms. Baibakova toasted the crowd of dealers (Marc Glimcher, Thaddaeus Ropac, Dominique Lévy), museum directors (Thelma Golden, Chris Dercon, Philippe Vergne) artists (Wangechi Mutu, Angel Otero, Ryan McNamara) and investors. Husband-and-wife artists Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian had made a special print for the occasion. Artspace is all about collaboration, Ms. Baibakova said, "and what’s a better collaboration than a marriage?" Artspace, she added, "combines the good will we want to create with a viable business." And after two years at Harvard Business School, she said she's excited to be "coming back to the art world."

The crowd lingered over chocolates. There were still four more days of Frieze. No doubt there would be more reunions to come.

Artists Space Toasts Douglas Crimp

The Artists Space gala honoring Douglas Crimp on Saturday night was broken into two parts, the first held at the nonprofit's storefront space at 55 Walker Street, where multiple copies of multiple volumes of In Search of Lost Time sat just behind the bartender's heads.

After a performance by Suzanne Sachsse and Marc Siegel, Cindy Sherman, Gabriel Orozco and Lawrence Weiner mingled at the back of an exhibition on André Cadere. Up by the front was Michael Stipe, who wanted to talk about the sculptures he's been making, but was clearly trying not to ruin some kind of exclusive he had with Vanity Fair, or wherever.

"It's just something that happened," he said. Recently? "No, seven years ago." Big or small? "Big." Had he ever shown them? "No." Was he going to? "I can't tell you that now, but I will be able to tell you where I'm going to show them in November of this year."

Then it was time to go two doors down, where we were to eat. This required everyone to head out to the sidewalk. Some weren't sure it was time to leave yet, they thought there would be some kind of signal. "Maybe Irving Sandler heading over there is the signal," a colleague speculated.

"Is this where we go?" asked Clarissa Dalrymple, near a door.

"No, those are the steps to the basement," said Stefan Kalmár.

Everyone had to cluster outside at the second door as they waited for admission, and seemed equally obliged to smoke a cigarette as they did so. Inside the second space they ate duck and carrots and drank red wine.

The artist, writer and AIDS activist Gregg Bordowitz then gave a passionate introduction for Mr. Crimp which began, in part, "I am who I am today because of Douglas Crimp."  He'd introduced Mr. Crimp to those fighting the spread of HIV in the city, and Mr. Crimp taught him how to be passionate about art.

"This is a man who once reported that he desired to lick the surface of a Brice Marden painting," Mr. Bordowitz said.

Mr. Crimp gave his speech afterward, which mostly thanked people like Mr. Bordowitz and Helene Winer, a former director of Artists Space. "I've been extremely lucky in my life with my friendships," he said.

Mr. Crimp curated the "Pictures" show at Artists Space in 1977, which featured Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo and Philip Smith, and led to the development of the term "Pictures Generation." The show's legacy still surprises him, he said at his table, especially since most people didn't even see the show, but only read his catalogue essay for it in October.

"It was a time when there wasn't really a sense of direction in the art world and there had been up to that point, this movement followed that movement," he said. "I guess it was my  understanding of the task of criticism at the time, which was to say, 'this follows this,' so I guess I gave it some kind of coherence. But also the artists were doing something legitimately new."

"To tell you the truth I wouldn't even presume to answer what the role of art criticism is anymore," he added. "I'm working on a memoir so I'm more interested in how I became a critic. Plus the art world is way, way, way, way, way bigger and there's way, way, way, way more money. I don't think there is such a thing as an art world. I think we can say at that time it felt like there was, but now there are hundreds of art worlds."

It was certainly the week for that sentiment. Robert Longo gave the evening high marks, saying he normally avoided Frieze-related events, and had only gone to one other one in the past week. What did he think of the fair itself?

He looked at me over his tinted lenses and said, "Artists don't go to art fairs, bro."

'Expo 1' Arrives

The main room of the Museum of Modern Art looked like it was underwater Saturday night, illuminated by cyan lights and studded with round tables that glowed like bioluminescent jelly fish. Perhaps the effect was intentional, given the ecological slant of "Expo 1," for which the dinner was being thrown by Klaus Biesenbach, Glenn Lowry and Volkswagen's Hans Dieter Pötsch and Jonathan Browning.

A series of speeches began after the guests—James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Adrian Villar Rojas and Doug Aitken—took their seats. Mr. Biesenbach discussed the urgency of the exhibition. "CO2 levels are at an all-time high in three million years," he said, eliciting an ironic cheer from artist Meg Webster. It wasn't until the end of his speech that he explained why a bright yellow plastic flower was dangling around his neck, which earned giggles from the crowd whenever the half-dozen flat screens installed around the room showed  it close up. It turned out to be a solar-powered Little Sun designed by artist Olafur Eliasson, who is distributing them in off-grid areas of the world (and to MoMA's dinner guests as party favors). Mr. Eliasson's work in "Expo 1" consists of 850-year-old chunks of Icelandic glacier. "I like to call them our little ice cubes," said Mr. Biesenbach.

Once the crowd worked its way through dinner, Martha Wainwright took the stage in cat-eye makeup and a black jacket bedecked with sparkly orange birds. "We tried to find three songs that fit with the theme of the show, which was hard because most singers tend to sing about themselves," she said. Not even the wonky acoustics of the space could detract from her voice as she belted "Country Roads" for her final number.

Dessert was paired with another performance, this one from an artist who more than a few people thought was Mr. Biesenbach's niece after his slightly accented introduction. Her name, in fact, was Mileece, and she sang ethereal vowel sounds while controlling loops by stroking fake flowers equipped with sensors. "I hope this exhibition is as fantastic as it's expected to be," she said in conclusion.

By the time dinner ended, a crowd was already swirling around the sculpture garden for the after-party. Volkswagen logos were visible everywhere, even at the bottom of the shallow pool leading to Aristide Maillol's sculpture of a falling woman.  "It's like Gatsby," said one guest, of the highly visible sponsorship. As the hour grew late, party-goers slipped out one by one to visit the Rain Room, before heading off into the night.