For all the art benefits, galas, cocktails, and house dinners we have here in New York, the fall MOCA gala seems to be the only big bash on the mind of the Angelenos who have a Koons in their living room. The 31st edition of the event didn’t feature cameos by Lady Gaga or Angelina and Brad in the cocktail hour (like the last year’s big splash), but the event still pulled in $3 million, plenty of iconic artists, and Chanel accessorized starlets (the brand was the night’s big fashion sponsor). Doug Aitken designed this year’s gala while newly re-branded Californian welcomed the big spenders with hugs and smiles. Here’s who made an impression on the West Coast’s biggest art date of the year.

Artists who flew into LAX: Frank Gehry, Jeff Koons, and Ed Ruscha were the night’s biggest knights

Obligatory celebs: Kirsten Dunst, Rachel Bilson, Chloë Sevigny, Mila Kunis, Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale, a yes…art loving Will Ferell.

Other notables: Michael Chow, Vera Wang, Brian Grazer, and Kate and Laura Mulleavy.

Performers faced with the task of succeeding Lady Gaga: Beck, Caetano Veloso, and Devendra Banhart

Worst idea for the first course: A “hearty” plate of iceberg lettuce

Most surprising auctioneers: A chorus of hustling, loud, endearing formers (and ode to Aitken’s 2007 work at MoMA called “happening”)

Biggest flub: Co-chair Maria Bell who accidentally misspoke that the event raised $300 million on stage, to the gasp of the crowd. She quickly corrected herself.

Often some of the greatest installations and exhibits are also the shortest. Such is the case with this Halloween weekend’s gem MOVE! It was conceived part of part of MoMA P.S.1′s Free Space program and co-organzied by Klaus Biesenbach, V’s Cecilia Dean, and David Colman. And this twelve hour spectacular (six hours each on Saturday and Sunday) actually offered some of most inspired and energetic works we’ve seen in Long Island City in some time, with its designer and artist collaborations. Here are our five highlights along with photos of everything you might have missed!

1) Rob Pruitt and Marc Jacobs’ magical runway. This was one of most energetic participatory installations we’ve seen in some time. Concept was simple: museum goers were encouraged to strut their stuff on the blue screen runway before seeing their likeness projected onto a Marc Jacobs Spring 2010 show in the gallery next door (yes, with Madonna and Anna Wintour sitting in the front row). The project truly put smiles on everyone’s faces while exploring everyone’s internal vanities.

2) David Blaine on premises. Sure, Blaine collaborated with Adam Kimmel on that swimming with the sharks themed video but we were almost excited to see the magician extraordinaire in person for some hardcore card tricks. “I just returned from a tour of Russia,” Blaine told us. “And I performed some of these card tricks in front of the President Medvedev.”

3) Terence Koh and Italo Zucchelli’s quietly gleaming performance installation. Two silver embroidered men. Haunting music. Quiet room. Pure visual brilliance.

4)  Olaf Breuning and Cynthia Rowley’s paint factory. It’s complicated turning samples into full pledged works of art. And Rowley hasn’t even decided yet what she’s doing with dozens of beautifully paint splattered dresses. Stay tuned!

5) Kalup Linzy performance. Ok, whether this man was performing in the basement of the museum or eating in cafeteria in his DvF dress, we were impressed.

Here at Art Box, we encourage some of our favorite people in the art world to contribute with their takes on recent museum and gallery experiences. Hikari Yokoyama, an accomplished art adviser and a curator writes about the recently opened Anish Kapoor exhibition at New York’s Guggenheim. It runs through March 28, 2010.

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This week, I drove uptown with some friends to attend the Anish Kapoor opening at The Guggenheim. Kapoor is well known for his shiny, simple curved sculptures that hold convex or concave reflections of the forms’ surroundings. The last I saw his work, was at his solo effort at the Gladstone Gallery, where I couldn’t resist running my finger over a long pungent crimson wax turd lying across the floor. Kapoor is an artist that I will always make the effort to see when I have the chance; his work is conceptually rigorous, but always pleasing to the senses.

For this exhibition – I came with no expectations or knowledge of what I was going to see. I was disappointed to find out that they weren’t keeping all of the galleries open so I could do my usual circular sliding-in-heels journey down the ramp.

We wandered through the galleries housing the permanent collection, confused about where this Kapoor exhibition actually was. His work is normally large scale and prominent and usually placed in open spaces where the sculpture draws in the vacant margin around it. Instead, this time I was surprised to walk around a corner and up a short set of stairs, I found a crowd of people lining up to peer into what seemed like nothing. And by nothing, I mean a black void perfectly framed by white wall. The line coagulated as people got to the front and peered in, straining to see something, some shielding their eyes as if looking into a glare or making little binoculars with their hands as if imaginary lenses would reveal something unseen to the fingerless eye.

I heard an off-hand comment that this was a joke on or for the art world, come all the way uptown to stand in a line of well dressed people to crane your neck and stare at nothing.

The piece is entitled Memory and commissioned by Deutsche Bank. Upon further exploration, we discovered that you could go around and see the steel encasement that had blocked out all light to make the void. It was heavy, rusty, curvaceous riveted steel – a bulging orb bursting out of the white rectangular back room. Seeing this more literal explanation of the absurd darkness on the other side, was enlightening and surprisingly disappointing. But observing the structure itself granted some gratification as to evidence of the craft and the labor that went into this piece (the black void ended up not being the same as staring into a closet) but at the same time, the mysterious feeling of peering into infinite space was grounded by a quick, concise understanding of the reality behind the trick.

Socially, the event was calm and subdued. I said hello to Hilary, the ever gracious and enthusiastic director of the YCC, we had one more drink and left into the warm night.

Hikari Yokoyama is based in New York City. She pursued her studies in the fine arts and art history at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. She has worked in various capacities, including gallery assistant, non-profit curatorial director, and acquisitions for corporate and private collections, always maintaining art at the center of her professional orbit. She currently works as roving director to Gresham’s Ghost and manages a private collection. Her crayon pusher parents encouraged her to make art instead of bickering with her little sister. Now she is intent on adding fuel to the ever-evolving and dynamic contemporary art world.