Van Alen Institute Online Auction Offers Experiences With Celebrity Designers As Prizes
Van Alen Institute has recently released the details of an online auction that will let design aficionados bid to hang out with Norman Foster, Bjarke Ingel, Charles Renfro, Yabu Pushelberg and many more big names within the art and design community.
The American nonprofit organization has been doing the Auction of Art+Design Experiences for two years now. It aims to raise money to fund the research programs and design competitions that it organizes.
Twenty-five different experiences are up for bid with a roster that includes architects, designers, curators, artists and photographers.
One of the main highlights in the auction, as reported in Architectural Digest, is a hot tub experience with Charles Renfro of Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The winner of the bid will get, with three friends, an opportunity to share thoughts on architecture all afternoon, while relaxing in a hot tub and sipping cocktails. The experience will take place in Renfro’s house in Fire Island.
Another exciting experience that the auction offers is the Norman Foster helicopter ride, wherein the winning bidder will get to see the renowned architect’s works -- including the London City hall and the Gherkin from a bird’s eye view.
Also, Bjarke Ingels and Jakob Lange will be accompanying the winner to test the Copenhagen-based architecture firm’s smoke ring generator. This will take place in the company’s new waste-to-energy power plant at Amager Resource Center in Copenhagen.
Other experiences in the auction include a dinner with design power duo George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg in New York, a bike tour of Los Angeles with Michael Maltzan, birdwatching with Jeanne Gang and rediscovering the disappearing Mississippi river delta on a plane with Trey Trahan.
The auction which started May 6 will have initial bids starting in a range from $500 to $1,950. As of this writing, the online auction has attracted a total of 27 bids. The last day of bidding will be on May 20.