On Wednesday night, the Zaha Hadid-designed Moore building in Miami’s Design District played home to a starry (RED) Auction curated by artist Theaster Gates and architect David Adjaye alongside the rock star Bono to raise money for the fight against HIV/AIDS. The auction, organized by Sotheby’s and Gagosian gallery for an occasion unusual for Miami Art Week, drew a formidable cast of attendees including Naomi Campbell, Jeffrey Deitch, Hank Willis Thomas, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Christian Louboutin, and Larry Gagosian, who kicked off the evening with an introduction.
Bono energized the crowd with the pronouncement that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation would match the price of every sale, thus doubling donations for the cause. It didn’t hurt that the U2 frontman also sang a few bars of a song that he appeared to be improvising. “Art has always been a vehicle for activism and for truth-telling,” Bono said, “and the truth of the matter is that we’re at a pivotal point where the progress we’ve achieved is in real jeopardy. Theaster and David—and all the artists here tonight—are raising the red flag at a critical time when fatigue and complacency are very real threats to the future.”