WHITNEY HONORS CALVIN TOMKINS

With the Whitney Museum of American Art’s move to the Meatpacking District on the horizon, the institution is taking its annual fall gala from its Upper East Side home for the first time, and bringing it to Hudson River Park at Pier 57. The museum typically brings in hundreds of guests and a swath of celebrities for the party, its biggest fundraising event of the year (last year it the gross proceeds were $2.65 million, and has honored Chuck Close and Ellsworth Kelly in the past).

This year, the Whitney pays tribute to veteran art critic Calvin Tomkins (b. 1925) who as a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1960 has profiled the likes of Marcel Duchamp, Georgia O’Keeffe, Robert Rauschenberg, Matthew Barney and Richard Serra. If that doesn’t sound splashy enough, never fear: A massive video installation made especially for the gala by Marilyn Minter should spice up the room. The museum’s recurring event producer, Bronson Van Wyck, is back to design the interior space.

The honorary co-chairs are AOL CEO Tim Armstrong (the company is a co-sponsor of Minter’s installation), Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig, and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. So far, special guests include actresses Michelle Monaghan and Naomi Watts.

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