Guggenheim Museum Hosts 2025 YCC Party Presented by LG

On the evening of May 8, the 2025 Young Collectors Council (YCC) Party convened artists and patrons for an exclusive fundraising dance party at the Guggenheim New York. This year, artist collaborator LaJuné McMillian transformed the museum’s iconic rotunda into a lavender dreamscape that captivated all the senses through her hybrid virtual environment. 

The event began with a seated dinner in the museum’s Wright Restaurant for the YCC cochairs, event cochairs, host committee members, presenting sponsor LG Display, artists, and other esteemed guests. Throughout the night, the museum welcomed hundreds of attendees from across the globe, who enjoyed cocktails, a DJ set by Kito, McMillian’s captivating activations, and the Guggenheim’s current rotunda exhibition, Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers. 

In celebration of the 2025 LG Guggenheim Award, Naomi Beckwith, Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator at the Guggenheim New Yorkand Seol Park, Head of Brand Management, LG Corp., raised a glass to this year’s award recipient, Ayoung Kim. Trained in motion graphics, Kim creates fantastical virtual environments using emerging technologies such as VR, AI, and live simulation to investigate contemporary issues. Kim was selected by an international jury and is the first Korean artist to win this award. She will receive the prize in celebration of her practice and present a public program at Guggenheim New York on July 1.  

Throughout the evening, guests took part in the multisensory experience that  LaJuné McMillian curated. McMillian is known for pushing boundaries with motion capture and gaming engines, and as the 2025 YCC Artist Collaborator, she created an environment inspired by the idea of a lavender dream that captivated all the senses—sound, sight, smell, taste, touch. This included: 

• A performance that descended the Guggenheim spiral and culminated on the rotunda stage. Featuring dancers, vocalists, electronics and instrumentalists, the performance used motion capture technology to include the performers’ digital avatars on LG technology, combining the digital with the physical. Performers included Rena Anakwe, Zeelie Brown, LAMB, RaFia Santana, Maryann Talavera, Renaldo Maurice, and Roobi Gaskins. 

• Guests were invited to interact with a scent-based activation on the rotunda floor.  

• Aura and tarot card readings throughout the evening.  

• Specialty cosmic cocktails, mocktails, and craft sliders. 

The party committee included YCC Cochairs Hannah Gottlieb-Graham, Alyssa Yoon, and Tiffany Zabludowicz; Honorary Cochairs Sophia Cohen and Alexandra Economou; 2025 YCC Party Cochairs Jes Fan, Olivia Fialkow Phillips, Alexander Hankin, Lucas Hoffmann, Natalie Jackson, Chloe and Dillon Lawson-Johnston, Quinn Martinelli, Tschabalala Self, and Moses Sumney; 2025 YCC Party Host Committee members Seun Aboderin, Ella Emhoff, Justine Fisher and Theo Osborne, Mason Gooding, Jon Gray, Casey Kohlberg, Melissa Mathias, Deidrea A. Miller, Polly-Anna Monckton and Casey Bergen, Moneifa Cherice Nance, Kevin Rezvani, Gabrielle Richardson, Paula Sanders, Dakota Sica, Anastasiya Siro, Kali Steinman, Cecily Waud, and Eden Xu-Martinez; and YCC 2025 Artist Collaborator LaJuné McMillian. 

Funds raised from the evening will benefit the Guggenheim New York and the Young Collectors Council Art Fund, which supports emerging and established contemporary artists. Contributions directly impact the museum’s permanent collection, groundbreaking exhibitions, and education initiatives. The YCC Party is presented by LG Display. The YCC 2025 Artist Collaboration with LaJuné McMillian is supported by LG OLED. 

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Sponsors 

The 2025 YCC Party is presented by LG Display. 

The YCC 2025 Artist Collaboration is supported by LG OLED. 

 Additional support for the 2025 YCC Party is provided by MIND GAMES Fragrance.  

About the YCC 

The Young Collectors Council (YCC) is a dynamic group of young professionals ages 21–40 who seek to further their understanding of contemporary art through a dedicated calendar of curator-led programs and special events such as curator-led tours, artist interactions, private collection visits, and more. Members convene for the unique opportunity to participate in a biannual meeting to further the YCC’s mission of acquiring emerging, contemporary art for the museum’s permanent collection and supporting our groundbreaking exhibitions and education initiatives. 

About the LG Guggenheim Art and Technology Initiative
The LG Guggenheim Art and Technology Initiative is a five-year, multifaceted collaboration between the Guggenheim and LG designed to research, honor, and promote artists working at the intersection of art and technology. Unique in its areas of concentration and approach, the initiative is an unprecedented investment in technology as an artistic medium. It enables the Guggenheim to broaden its investigations into this innovative field, providing essential support to the visionary artists who inspire new understandings of how technology shapes, and is shaped by, society. 

As part of the initiative, Noam Segal joined the Guggenheim New York in 2023 as LG Electronics Associate Curator. Focusing on research, Segal holds an active role in developing the museum’s engagement with technology-based art, producing scholarship and public-facing content that will strengthen the goals of the multifaceted initiative across the museum’s departments. 

Building on this collaboration, LG will sponsor the Guggenheim’s YCC Party through 2027. Through its sponsorship of the party, the LG Guggenheim Art and Technology Initiative sustains the museum’s mission to collect, preserve, and interpret the art of our time and expands the YCC’s long-standing history of supporting pioneering artists. Each year the YCC Party features activations and performances devised by rising stars of the art world; these artists will incorporate LG’s groundbreaking OLED technology into their engagements with the Guggenheim’s landmark building. 

In February 2025, Guggenheim New York and LG proudly announced Ayoung Kim as the 2025 LG Guggenheim Award recipient.  For more information, visit guggenheim.org/initiatives/lg-guggenheim-art-and-technology-initiative/lg-and-the-ycc-party.  

Two additional artists will be recognized with the LG Guggenheim Award through 2027. 

About LG
Founded in 1947, LG is a technology innovator and global leader in consumer electronics, automotive components, ESS, and organic light-emitting displays (OLEDs). LG Corporation (LG Corp.) is the holding company for industry-leading LG subsidiaries, such as LG Electronics, LG Display, LG Energy Solution, and LG Chem, among others. The LG group of companies employs over 270,000 people across more than 60 countries, generating USD 140 billion in annual revenue. For more information about the LG group of companies, please visit lgcorp.com. 

About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation 

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937 and is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The international constellation of museums includes the Guggenheim New York, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Guggenheim Bilbao, and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. A “temple of spirit” where radical art and architecture meet, the Guggenheim New York is among a group of eight Frank Lloyd Wright structures in the United States designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. To learn more about the Guggenheim New York and the Guggenheim’s activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org.