Dia Fall Night Gala Honors Roni Horn and Steve McQueen in Chelsea

Dia Art Foundation raised funds for its long-term programming on Monday evening, honoring photographer and sculptor Roni Horn and filmmaker Steve McQueen at its annual Fall Night gala in New York. More than 400 creatives, curators and philanthropists attended the Chanel-supported event, with every dollar of proceeds going toward Dia's long-term planning.

The evening ran across two Chelsea spaces. Guests began with an after-hours exhibition viewing at Dia Chelsea, then walked a few blocks uptown for cocktails, a candlelight autumnal dinner, and tributes to both honorees. Chanel artistic director Matthieu Blazy co-chaired the night alongside artists Carrie Mae Weems and Rosemarie Trockel.

What did the gala support?

The benefit backed Dia's full range of programming, which includes:

• artist commissions
• lectures
• long-term exhibitions
• free admission to all of Dia's New York locations
• restoration of several of its gallery spaces

The foundation's commitment to free admission matters for practitioners and audiences alike: it keeps permanent installations by artists such as Walter De Maria and Donald Judd publicly accessible without a ticket price, a rarity among New York institutions of Dia's scale.

Why was the night also a farewell?

The gala doubled as a send-off for Jessica Morgan, Dia's director for nearly 12 years, who starts as director of Tate in London on January 1. In her remarks, Morgan said her still-unnamed successor will inherit sturdier buildings and stronger finances than she did when she arrived.

"It's been an absolute joy," Morgan said. "I'm going to be looking very carefully to see what's going on, so don't mess it up."

Her departure marks a genuine inflection point. The incoming director takes over an institution that has consolidated its physical plant in Chelsea and stabilized its finances — conditions that will shape how ambitiously Dia can commission new work in the decade ahead.

Who attended?

The crowd spanned film, art and letters. Filmmaker Sofia Coppola and producer Darren Star attended, alongside actors Marion Cotillard, Julio Torres and Stephanie March, and writer Candace Bushnell. Artists in the room included Marina Abramović, Sheree Hovsepian, Matthew Barney, Cecily Brown, Camille Henrot, Glenn Ligon, Tauba Auerbach and Howardena Pindell. Arts leaders Connie Butler and Thelma Golden also joined the co-chairs and honorees.

How were Horn and McQueen honored?

Over a dinner of fig salad and short ribs, two tributes carried the evening. Matthew Barney spoke for Horn, remarking on her keen wit and intelligence as a photographer and sculptor. Grammy-winning musician and poet Meshell Ndegeocello paid tribute to McQueen with a roving musical performance that moved through the dinner crowd.

The pairing itself says something about Dia's scope. Horn's practice — photography, sculpture, and drawing centered on Iceland and on the instability of perception — and McQueen's, spanning Turner Prize-winning video installation to Oscar-winning feature film, mark two very different models of how a contemporary artist builds a decades-long body of work.

What did guests see at Dia Chelsea?

Before dinner, guests received a private viewing of "David Lamelas: The Machine," the Argentine artist's first major solo presentation in New York. The survey gathers photographs, installations and films from across Lamelas's career, and it includes a newly commissioned work, Situación de tiempo II (Situation of Time II), 2025 — a darkened room holding 17 television sets. Composer Gavin Gamboa contributed a musical piece to the exhibition as well.

For a New York audience, the survey is overdue recognition: Lamelas, a pioneer of conceptual art and media installation since the late 1960s, has rarely received this scale of institutional platform in the city.

What did guests take home?

Parting gifts served the eyes and the nose: a hardcover book from a recent Dia exhibition and bottles of Chanel's Fragrance Primer and Eau de Parfum.

As Morgan departs for Tate on January 1, Dia enters a leadership search with its gala season closed, its Chelsea galleries in restoration, and a Lamelas survey on view — leaving the unnamed next director a clear runway for the foundation's next chapter.