Everyone but the plumber and 8-week-old Sam Worthington came to the Kitchen's annual benefit Wednesday, where, by the way, there was not a sink in sight.

The variety of the crowd — which included artists, lawyers, museum directors, a reverend, and the purveyor of the Champagne Palmes d'Or — showed the far-ranging appeal of the Kitchen, a nonprofit performance and visual arts space in Chelsea.

A banker, a fashion designer, and an advertising executive all singled out a recent performance by Nico Muhly as their favorite. One of the instruments he played was the blonde hair of three women.

As for Sam: His mom, Debra Singer, the executive director of the Kitchen, left him at home, probably a good idea given the volume of the musical performances by the Bootstrappers, DJ Olive the Audio Janitor, and the National.

The gathering honored Christian Marclay, the sound, visual, and performance artist admired by many guests as the true heir of John Cage.

Mr. Marclay has just released a new CD of work recently on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and he currently has a show at the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco (in New York, he's represented by the Paula Cooper Gallery).

Mr. Marclay first performed at the Kitchen in 1981, but his fondest memory comes from an engagement a year later, during a festival of turntable performance.

After playing, he said, there was silence, and then, all of a sudden, booing.

"Everyone in New York is so blasé, so booing is great. It requires conviction," Mr. Marclay said. "It was probably the best performance I've ever done."

The event raised $450,000 for the Kitchen, where on Wednesday poets Corina Copp, David Goldstein, Will Hubbard, and others will read their work.

agordon@nysun.com