Gagosian Celebrated its Takashi Murakami Exhibition With a Multi-Attraction, NFT-Inspired Party

With its vast space and proximity to Manhattan, the Brooklyn Navy Yard regularly plays host to galas, award shows, and deep house raves. Last night, all those energies combined at a celebration of An Arrow through History, the new retrospective of Takashi Murakami at Gagosian’s Madison Avenue gallery.

Prominent fixtures in art (Larry Gagosian), politics (New York Mayor Eric Adams), design (Kelly Wearstler), and Web3 (Chris Le) arrived around 10pm. The haze of smoke and neon provided famous faces anonymity among the nearly 800 guests. Bureau Betak—the creative force behind Jacquemus’s lavender fields, Christian Dior’s Puglian carnival, and other reality-defying spectacles—transformed the space into a dystopian wasteland. As the night continued with dizzying performances and head-scratching gimmicks, the divergence between the digital and the physical became difficult to discern. The Gagosian exhibition consists of work inspired by Murakami’s Clone X, an NFT developed in collaboration with RTFKT Studios. The futuristic inspiration rippled throughout the evening. 

Zack Bia provided music for the crowd. Early in the set, Murakami climbed the scaffolding and danced next to Bia. The famed DJ played “Going Bad,” Meek Mill and Drake’s 2018 hit. When the lyric “a lot of Murakami in the hallway” blasted over the speakers, the crowd screamed. Beneath his enormous plush hat, the artist beamed.