What’s Happening: Philanthropy has long played a defining role in shaping how the public perceives the distribution and purpose of enormous wealth. The notion of the ultra-wealthy compensating for their advantages by funding everything from museums to charitable foundations is being questioned—and supplanted—by the beliefs of a rising generation who have earned (or will inherit) massive fortunes.

The Download: A growing sentiment among certain high-net-worth individuals in Silicon Valley is a resentment of being perceived by the art world as little more than the sum of their assets. The status quo of champagne-soaked galas to fête the generosity of those who lend their collections to an exhibition—or whose donations fund institutional operations and renovations—doesn’t sit well with this crowd. “The art world sees us as a bunch of bank accounts,” lamented Ethan Beard, a founder in the Web3 space and a former Facebook and Google employee, who jumped at the chance to donate his time and mentorship to San Francisco’s new Institute of Contemporary Art.

“A lot of what we build is code, so we’re not building objects or trying to amass things. We just have a different view of status symbols,” he told the Wall Street Journal, which reported on the new path charted by the ICA San Francisco, which opened in late September. Its director, Alison Gass, opened the Bay Area’s newest contemporary art institution with just $1 million in seed funding and another $4 million from a board that includes prominent tech names like Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger and Slack co-founder Cal Henderson.

For its opening festivities, the museum opted out of hosting a black-tie gala for its board and major donors, instead offering a more pared-back sneak peek at its opening exhibition by Jeffery Gibson with bites from a taco bar and souvenir pictures from a photo booth. By and large, the donors funding the institution’s curatorial positions have broken with the tradition of having their names attached to those roles. “The idea that another individual’s position needs to be saddled to my name smacked of colonialism,” said one donor, the venture capitalist and art collector David Hornik. “It made me feel terrible.”

The tech crowd isn’t alone in evolving big money’s role in the art world. Heirs to the Getty and Rockefeller oil fortunes have funded climate activism around the world. In 2019, Aileen Getty helped found the Climate Emergency Fund, and had given $1 million to the organization as of August. Rockefeller heirs Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Gill Case, meanwhile, have pledged $30 million to the Equation Campaign, an organization that funds campaigns against fossil fuel projects and helps protect climate activists’ rights to free speech and protest. The Climate Emergency Fund and its $1 million award to Just Stop Oil has recently come under heavy scrutiny for the latter group’s vandalizing of museums and fine art in the name of drawing attention to their cause.

Then there are those who believe that their fortunes, and the power they confer, simply shouldn’t exist. “There’s no need for another foundation,” Marlene Engelhorn recently told the New York Times. “What’s really needed is structural change.” Engelhorn, who is 30 years old, inherited $30 million thanks to the $11 billion dollar sale of her family business, the German medical equipment company Boehringer Mannheim. While members of her family have pledged large sums towards STEM, archaeology centers, and in the case of one cousin, $140 million to classical music, Engelhorn would prefer for wealth taxes to make fortunes like hers impossible to attain.

In Their Own Words: Engelhorn is part of a growing movement advocating for higher taxes, not tax-exempt endowments or philanthropic pursuits, to offset the advantages of the ultra-rich. In the United States, Abigail Disney is the most prominent face of the movement as a member of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group seeking revisions to America’s tax system that would make the wealthy pay more in income taxes. “I’ve given away much more than fifty percent of my net worth, and I don’t intend to stop,” she told The New Yorker. “And, frankly, if you’re a billionaire and only want to give away half of your fortune, something is wrong with you.”

Surface Says: For the time being, high-profile benefits, galas, and other marquee fundraising events are probably here to stay. But as a new generation comes into their inheritances—or self-made fortunes—what awaits institutions who have tied their financial well-being to conspicuous philanthropy?

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“Ernesto’s is a downtown restaurant by way of the Basque Country,” says executive chef and co-founder Ryan Bartlow. After honing his skills in three-Michelin-starred temples of gastronomy such as San Sebastian’s Akelarre and Alinea in Chicago, Bartlow wanted to pare it down for his first solo venture.

Though the northern region in Spain is often celebrated for its experimental cuisine, the menu at Ernesto’s is an expression of the more elemental side of its food culture. “The hallmarks of Basque cuisine are amplifying seasonal ingredients in their most essential simplicity. Knowing how to get the most flavor out of an ingredient without taking away anything,” he says. Just don’t call it rustic. “There’s still a lot of layering and composition that goes on here.”

At its heart, Ernesto’s is a neighborhood canteen on the edge of Dimes Square, where Bartlow has lived for 16 years. (In a bit of kismet, his first Manhattan apartment was located right behind the restaurant.) It’s a Basque restaurant but it’s also a New York restaurant, which means the bartender will make you a pitch-perfect gin and tonic and a killer martini. Maybe Iggy and the Stooges is on the playlist or Depeche Mode and some ‘90s hip-hop. Designer Michael Groth’s tasteful touch introduces subtle references to San Sebastian’s Art Nouveau architecture, from custom lighting fixtures inspired by Playa de la Concha’s cast-iron lamp posts and the brass bar’s curvy forms to an original Joan Miró lithograph.

After gaining experience spearheading hospitality projects at Blacksheep, multidisciplinary designer Tola Ojuolape launched her own practice specializing in commercial interiors and furniture steeped in cultural richness. The Londoner’s first project is proof her approach has staying power: interiors for The Africa Centre’s refurbishment, which celebrates the continent’s craftsmanship and sense of place through furniture, textiles, and materials that impart feelings of warmth and serve as a showcase of contemporary African talents.

When: Until Jan. 7

Where: Gagosian, Athens

What: Marc Newson’s first outing in Greece pays homage to the colors of the Mediterranean country’s flag, with limited-edition furniture in a soothing palette of blues and white. Among the highlights are the Cloisonné chair and lounge, whose copper bodies are ornamented with elaborate allover patterning in circular and molecular “orgone motifs.” Equally impressive are a brilliant coffee table and chair in royal blue solid glass with uncolored lower halves and metal surfboards that began as prototypes for Garrett McNamara.

Mortlach drew a crowd to Chapel Bar at Fotografiska, New York, to celebrate the launch of the 30-Year-Old Midnight Malt, the Scottish distillery’s latest single malt scotch. The evening kicked off with an intimate dinner where guests observed how one droplet of Mortlach undergoes its meticulous distillation process thanks to visualizations by Diorama. More revelers soon arrived for the cocktail party, where photographer Matthew Placek documented the festivities with Polaroids that guests got to keep.

When was it? Oct. 19

Where was it? Chapel Bar at Fotografiska, New York

Who was there? Trevor Noah, Joe Doucet, Paola Antonelli, Gabriele Chiave, Timo Weiland, Mark Grattan.

Frederick Law Olmsted is considered the father of landscape architecture in the United States, but his prestigious name doesn’t guarantee invincibility to the hundreds of parks nationwide that bear his design pedigree. Some of Olmsted’s most famous creations, such as Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City envisioned alongside partner Calvert Vaux, are landmarks that undergo meticulous preservation efforts to stay in pristine shape. Others are less fortunate and faced with existential threats such as damage from climate disasters, lack of maintenance, and new construction.

These issues caught the eye of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), a nonprofit that raises awareness about threatened parks, gardens, and landscapes across the U.S. through its annual Landslide report. Given that 2022 marks the bicentennial of Olmsted’s birth, his work is a timely theme.

Gaggenau is a German manufacturer of high-quality home appliances. Founded in 1683, the company is one of the most important names in kitchen design and is represented in more than 50 countries with showrooms around the world.

Surface Says: There’s a reason few brands in the high-end kitchen appliance arena are more revered than Gaggenau. It comes down to an unrivaled combination of engineering and style.

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