A night of community, well-dressed guests, and a slew of notable faces were all in the same room on Friday evening in the middle of the Guggenheim Museum’s lauded spiral ramp. Designer Grace Wales Bonner threw a proper fête that merged art forms with a curation of artist performances. Walking into the museum, a stage was set up with masses of people growing in size once the doors opened.
The center of the floor filled and so did each floor of the spiral ramp. Heads popped up to get a bird’s eye view of the first performer keiyaA. The artist wore a lengthy brown knit dress that barely grazed her silver slippers, both designed by Wales Bonner. “It’s a beautiful knit dress and the color brown, which is the color of God’s people,” she said with a shy smile.
Other prolific artists filled the space from guests like Martine Syms to actor Kofi Siriboe. Before the night commenced, hours before, the brain of the event, Grace, was seen going from one room to the next to ensure the night went smoothly. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. There were some artists I had in mind and we did an event in Paris last year. Certain artists have kind of come with us like Etran [De L’Aïr] and then there’s been people that I’m just a huge fan of Fireboy DML that we’ve included. I wanted to have some new kinds of collaborations this evening so I think it’s about experiencing artists in different contexts this evening,” Bonner shared with ESSENCE.com.
Other notable guests such as Tyler Mitchell, Bianca Saunders, Antoine Gregory, Savannah James, Selah Marley, Jalil Joseph, Ryan Destiny, Venus X, Charlie Casely-Hayford, Nicholas Daley, Julez Knowles, and Dede Lovelace were in attendance to watch the performances. Rapper Navy Blue poured out his heart on stage wearing Wales Bonner denim shorts.
Actor Siriboe held up his phone with his head bopping to record the rapper in support when he took the stage. Back upstairs, The Cavemen. began their feel-good set with guests dancing to their Afropop tunes. More artists took the stage from Amaarae, Akanbi, The Joy, and Ade “Acyde” Odunlami in the rotunda and downstairs in the lower-level theater.
As keiyaA got ready for her sound check, she gushed about Grace and the meaning of “Togetherness.” She also candidly shared how she orchestrated her performance for the night. “I think there’s a lot of that [togetherness] in the essence of my music already. Even though I write so much about the self, I think I write about my perspectives from a human perspective that many people can relate to.”
The enjoyable evening went smoothly, performers from keiyaA, to The Cavemen. to Amaarae, and more created an atmosphere of celebration and an air of lightness and “Togetherness” that was much needed. Prior to an event she’d previously helmed in Paris, Bonner had curated an exhibition for MoMA entitled Spirit Movers.
One might be able to see a throughline of movement and music throughout each step she takes outside of traditional fashion. As an artist and curator, music plays a vital role in her choices that then reflect in the pieces she designs. “‘Togetherness’ has been something I’ve been thinking about and incubating for a while. It’s about musical experience that brings people together in a way that people can access the world. The work I create is within and it’s a celebration of bringing people together,” Grace shared at one point in the evening.
With each turn, I was met with beauty. Pieces from the installation Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers surrounded guests who were each enveloped with sound. Greenery could be seen hanging from the ceiling and all throughout the top floor. A portrait of a fictional historical figure by Johnson hung on the wall and at another turn, an abstract paneled mirror sculpture with a series of items on placed shelves was seen.
Another mirror was hung with white spray paint text that read “RUN!” In another piece, Johnson is seen on a small box television practicing yoga outside on a deep terracotta rug. The television rested on top of the same rug in the installation. Both the exhibition and the celebration “Togetherness” fuses music, movement, and Blackness, consequently, the night felt like an intentional breath of fresh air.
