For nearly 24 months, we have kept calm and waited for The Modern Ball. For three years, we have tingled with anticipation for the opening of the transformed and expanded SFMOMA. For many hundreds of Mod Ball guests, and many thousands of SFMOMA visitors, both The Ball and The Opening will soon blissfully mash together, forming the cultural capstone of Our City of Reinvention. Can’t wait. SFMOMA’s biennial Modern Ball on May 12 turns 11 years old this year and celebrates uniting the renovated 1995 Mario Botta-designed SFMOMA brickwork building with the new, 10-story, 235,000 square-foot expansion. Designed in partnership with Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, the fascinating façade echoes the irregular, salt-waved sets of San Francisco Bay. Further, a scattering of embedded sand particles glint when caught by the sun; an homage to our fog-sun-fog interludes.

1. Modern Ball chair Gina Peterson will oversee the festivities. Lucas
Schoemaker, McCalls Catering & Events’executive chef, will curate food in
all the venues, collecting and presenting the artful goods of NorCal’s finest
food artisans. And Stanlee R. Gatti, the ball’s artist in residence, will design
the expectation-shattering table decor.
Gatti and I had plenty of time to talk about the event on the phone a
couple of weeks ago when he ran out of gas, hemmed in by an unexpected
Barack Obama motorcade bound for the Getty manse.“The breakthrough
for this Modern Ball, of course, is the extraordinary new expansion,” Gatti
says.“And both dinners take place inside the museum. That’s a first for the
ball. We have never had space like this indoors—we have always put up
tents to accommodate everyone.” (But what tents they were! Guests still
talk about the Pop Art motif of the 2007 Mod Ball, when Gatti re-created
Andy Warhol’s infamous Factory inside a colossal Mylar pavilion.)
“To have interior space for 700 guests for dinner is unparalleled,” Gatti
adds.“And to have everyone celebrating together after dinner will be
orgasmic. The SFMOMAarchitec-
ture is our lens. The architecture
and the art are the centers of atten-
tion. We have no plans to compete.
We’re focusing on the tables.’”
Besides his gala chores,
Schoemaker is also opening Cafe 5,
a fifth-floor, 250-seat casual restau-
rant offering light California-fusion
fare.“Cafe 5 spreads into beautiful
space in the garden and pavilion,”
Schoemaker says.“But you will
need a museum ticket to get up
there, and to the third floor, where
Sightglass is opening a coffee-and-
pastry bar. In Situ, run by Michelin-
three-star chef Corey Lee, is on the
museum’s entry floor and will be
open to the public.”
’s biennial Modern Ball turns 11 years old on May 12, and
celebrates the union of the renovated 1995 Mario Botta–designed museum
with a new 10-story expansion after a three-year closure. Designed in part-
nership with Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, the addition’s fasci-
nating façade echoes the irregular waves of San Francisco Bay. A scattering
of embedded sand
particles glints when
caught by the sun,
offering an homage
to our fog-sun-fog
interludes.
With nearly triple
its previous gallery
space, the reopened
SFMOMA will herald
the return of treasured
works from the muse-
um’s permanent col-
lection, augmented by
260 of the promised
1,100 works from the
Doris and Donald
Fisher Collection. It
marks the introduc-
tion of the new
Pritzker Center for
Photography, a
museum-within-the-
museum that is
America’s largest such
resource dedicated to
the medium. It will
also allow the curious
to see how Snøhetta
developed its design.
SFMOMA will awe
all eyes.
The Modern Ball
buzz began months ago
in the boxes at the sym-
phony, ballet and opera,
quickly reaching a
crescendo with the city’s
swells, swans and
swains, gallerists
and techies,hipsters and
chicsters,SoMas and
NoPas.Everybodywanted
in. This would be the art
bash of bashes. Tickets
were gone in a Jumpin’
Jack Flash.
The ball begins in
late daylight on the
12th, when the
aficionados and
cognoscenti attending
the
BALL
isBACKExpectations are high for SFMOMAʼs grand reopening
and the return of the Modern Ball. By SANDRA J. SWANSON
CLOCKWISEFROM
ABOVE: The
Snøhetta expansion
nearly triples
SFMOMAʼs gallery
space. Guests
cavort at the last
Modern Ball in
2014. The new
facade suggests
rippling waves.
Inaugural
exhibitions will
include works by
Diane Arbus and
Roy Lichtenstein.
SFMOMA
DREWALTIZERPHOTOGRAPHY
HENRIKKAM,COURTESYSFMOMA
HENRIKKAM,COURTESYSFMOMA
DIANEARBUS,UNTITLED(8);©ESTATEOFDIANEARBUS,LLC
ROYLICHTENSTEIN,LIVEAMMO(TZING!);©ESTATEOFROYLICHTENSTEIN