Inside the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, the entrance had become another planet. Los Angeles artist Max Hooper Schneider called his installation "World Without End," and the piece set the tone for what followed: cocktails served beside a meteor crater built into the Aileen Getty Plaza, then dinner in a room reworked with the artist's sci-fi elements and hybrid creatures. Bulgari sponsored the evening, and more than a thousand people came through it on April 13: artists, actors, collectors, philanthropists.
Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant made a rare joint red-carpet appearance. Filmmaker Ava DuVernay walked the same carpet. At dinner, MOCA Board Chair Maria Seferian and Director Johanna Burton spoke about the relationship between the museum and the artists it exhibits, describing it as one that runs in both directions. By the time the evening closed, the gala had raised $3 million for MOCA's exhibitions and educational programs, a sum that will outlast the installation and the guest list both.
The music came from St. Vincent. The Grammy-winning artist previewed two songs from a forthcoming album, her vocals carrying through a room built for looking, not listening. DJ sets from Kilo Kish and Kitty Ca$h took the night past dinner, proof that a gala can hold two registers, contemplative and kinetic, in the same evening without one canceling out the other.
Latino Professionals founder Rafael Magaña attended as a guest — a longtime collector of contemporary and mid-century work from London, Brazil, and Europe, and someone who was going to Art Basel Miami before it became fashionable with the wider art crowd. He called the night an enriching one, less for the spectacle than for the chance to meet fellow collectors and enthusiasts who hold the same appreciation for the work. He was photographed at the gala with Banke Balogun and Kenneth L. Jones, part of the crowd moving through Hooper Schneider's built terrain.
The gala's larger point echoed something MOCA has always stood for: that art functions as a cultural mirror, a gateway to alternative futures. This particular evening made the case through spectacle rather than argument. The meteor crater will be dismantled, the DJ booth packed away, but the $3 million raised will fund exhibitions and education long after the party ends. The harder trick, for an evening like this, is to be remembered not for who came through the door, but for what their presence made possible.
Event Host
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), a leading contemporary art institution, presented its annual fundraising gala with support from Bulgari. The 2024 MOCA Gala was held April 13, 2024, at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Los Angeles.
Reported and written by Rafael Magaña, Founder & Publisher, for Latino Professionals Magazine. → Full archive
RECORD №00120 · MMXXVI · Latino Professionals Magazine
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