Watermill Center founder Robert Wilson in front of human clock art installation celebrating his 70th birthday at this year's benefit. (Douglas Harrington)

Water Mill - Last weekend the Hamptons' most outside the box benefit took place in support of the Watermill Center. With a dress code suggestion of "fearless," this year's gala was dubbed "Voluptuous Panic" and it more than lived up to the title.

The Watermill Center is a self described "laboratory for performance." Founded by renowned American avant-garde director/playwright/librettist/artist Robert Wilson, this year's 18th annual summer benefit celebrated his 70th birthday. A collaborator with most of the world's great artists, actors and musicians, Wilson's worldwide acclaim first came with his collaboration with the legendary composer Philip Glass on their opera "Einstein On The Beach" in 1976.

The Watermill Center is an incubator for new ideas, new art, the nurturing of interdisciplinary cooperation between artists of differing genres and a free and inspiring educational facility for new and emerging artists. The performance installations that were spread around the grounds more than bespoke Wilson's philosophy for interdisciplinary experimentation.

Celebrating his birthday during this year's 18th annual gala Wilson told us, "It is great to have a thousand people here for my birthday, my 70th birthday! I can't think of another place I would rather be than at the Watermill Center, it is really my home."

Scottish actor Alan Cummings, with friend Grant Shaffer, compared the art installations to an "Alice In Wonderland" thing. (Douglas Harrington)

This year's artists-in-residence, along with visiting artists and supporters, created a sort of Disneyland for the avant-garde on the grounds of the center for this summer's benefit. From a road paver turned into a musical instrument circling silver glittered bikini clad nymphs, to live talking heads sticking out of the ground, to dominatrix like cat women swinging from the trees, these installations literally needed to be seen to be believed. Words simply cannot do them justice.

This year's benefit raised an astounding $1.5 million, as dozens of the world's most renowned artists donated works in support of the Watermill Center and the event's live and silent auctions. Highlights from the live auction included Dennis Oppenheim's sculpture "Architectural Cactus #6" (2008), quickly sold after Wilson's moving tribute to the late artist. Auctioneer Simon de Pury negotiated a fierce bidding war over Marina Abramovic's striking self portrait. Finally, in celebration of Wilson's birthday, a special live auction lot of seven commissioned portraits inspired by the artist by Laurie Anderson, Ross Bleckner, Frank Gehry, Peter Hujar, Christopher Knowles, Yoko Ono, David Salle, and one song written for him by Rufus Wainwright. This limited edition print portfolio raised $150,000 for the center.

Anne Hearst and Jay McInerney return year after year to the Watermill Center Summer Benefit. (Douglas Harrington)

We caught up with Scottish actor Alan Cummings taking in the installations with friend Grant Shaffer and his dog Heine. Cummings noted, "It is a bit trippy. It is all these artists from all over the world putting on a show which we are invited to look at and be bemused by. It is like an 'Alice In Wonderland' thing, you walk into the woods and there are strange people doing things in the trees."

Anne Hearst and Jay McInerney were in attendance again this year, "It is always wild and wonderful and fun. We love Robert Wilson; we think he is a genius. We are big fans," crooned Hearst. McInerney agreed, "It is one of the best parties of the summer. Just fantastic!"

Once inside the dinner tent guests were treated to a performance of "People Get Ready," a performance piece created during the center's spring residency program. Wainwright also performed the birthday song he wrote in Wilson's honor. This year's Master of Ceremonies was again Watermill's director Jorn Weisbrodt.

International Flavors & Fragrances perfumer Celine Baret stepping out of her fragrance art installation "Smoke and Mirrors." (Douglas Harrington)

French perfumer Celine Barel of International Flavors & Fragrances did not have the featured fragrance at this year's benefit, but she did participate in the creation of four of the art installations. In describing her "Smoke and Mirrors" installation Barel explained, "We put in a fog machine and we wanted to create the smell of emptiness, nothingness, zero. We created a fragrance that would have a lot of tension. It is a very short formula with ingredients that would be hot and cold at the same time."

Hot and cold at the same time might very well be the best way to describe the installations at this year's Watermill Center Summer Benefit, voluptuously hot suspended in the chilling illusion of a frenetic artistic panic. It was nothing short of a brilliant gala wrapped in performance art that touched all the senses in support of art's next avant-garde generation.