[All photos by AMBER DE VOS for PMc]. Performa 09 held their opening Gala on Friday night. Given their track record for unusual events (remember the astronaut at Fendi?) it's no surprise that they gave Penn Badgley, Cindy Sherman, David Byrne, Alan Cumming, and Mario Batali a dinner unlike any we've covered before...     More»

[Photo by JACKIE SNOW for PMc].

Not that anything surprises New Yorkers anymore, but an astronaut in full space gear shopping at Fendi is not something you see every day. This particular cosmonaut was part of Performa '09, which is the third biennial of performance art in NYC.  Guests got to mill about the Fendi Store watching the befuddled astronaut, sip champagne, and do a little shopping themselves, with ten percent of the proceeds going to the Performa Commissions Fund, so next year they might be able to pay someone to dress up as a Deep Sea Diver and shop at Prada! More pics below... More»