‘It’s About a Purity of Expression’: Grace Wales Bonner on Bringing Her ‘Togetherness’ Music Event to the Guggenheim

This year’s Met Gala doesn’t officially kick off until Monday, but that hasn’t stopped a deluge of events across New York City in the lead-up to the event. And the hottest ticket in town this weekend? That would be Grace Wales Bonner’s Togetherness music event at the Guggenheim, where a lineup of artist hand-picked by the designer performed in the iconic spiral atrium with the backdrop of Rashid Johnson’s “A Poem for Deep Thinkers,” the artist’s largest exhibition to date.

“I’ve been working on this concept for quite a long time, so to see it finally flourish is really exciting,” Wales Bonner told Vogue ahead of the event. “I was looking at different spaces in New York, but when I found out that Rashid was doing this show, it just felt like the perfect synergy. Even just being around this incredible artwork is a special moment. I think Togetherness is also about seeing artists in different contexts, so it feels right.”

The Cavemen.Photo: Hannah Turner Harts / BFA.com

The first edition of Togetherness was held in Paris last June during the city’s Fête de La Musique festival, and saw performers like the French rapper La Fève and the London-based multi-instrumentalist Mansur Brown take to the stage within the gilded setting of the 19th-century Hotel Le Marois. That wasn’t, however, the first time that Wales Bonner has flexed her muscles within the music space—despite admitting she’s “more of a listener” than a musician herself, over her 10 years in business, she’s collaborated with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Solange, and FKA twigs. “It’s quite natural, these friendships and relationships that support and enhance or inspire what I do,” she added. “I think there’s a natural relationship between musicians and designers, and this feels like a natural extension of that relationship.”