The Art Newspaper

LA MOCA's gaga gala

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Published online 16 Nov 09

Lady Gaga performs on a pink piano painted by Damien Hirst, while Francesco Vezzoli works on his needlepoint at LA MOCA's 30th anniversary gala (Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)

After this weekend, you’d never have guessed that only a year ago, Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art was struggling to stay open. Celebrating it’s 30th anniversary, the institution pulled out all the stops for its gala party, drawing red carpet royalty to the event and raising $4 million for the museum. While Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt took a private tour of the permanent collection display, fellow celebrities including Gavin Rossdale, Gwen Stefani, Kate Beckinsale, James Franco, Christina Ricci and Pierce Brosnan lined up to hear pop singer Lady Gaga play as part of artist Francesco Vezzoli’s one-off musical piece produced just for the night. Wearing a hat designed by architect Frank Gehry, the chanteuse played her new song “Speechless” on a pink piano painted with butterflies (courtesy of British artist Damien Hirst and sold for $450,000 during the night’s benefit auction) while members of the Bolshoi Ballet twirled in the background and a masked Vezzoli accompanied her with needlepoint. And for those who couldn’t make it to LA for the bash, the costumes by Miuccia Prada are being sold online ( www.moca.org/mocanewauction ) to raise funds for the museum, so you could (for a few thousand) recreate the night at home.

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