From the Ground Up

In the rural upstate town of Ghent, New York, Nile Harris slowly leads a procession of city-dwellers snaking behind him onto a grassy field. Around him, a wall of trees frame sculptures, and a large deep fryer sits conspicuously nearby a checkered tablecloth. Wearing an uncanny Obama mask and mic’d up with a portable P.A. system, the artist climbs up an abstracted criss-cross of columns made from soil by Kiyan Williams. His staggering laughs mix with feedback from his speaker as he continues toward the barbecue set-up. As he walks, he belts the lyrics “lift every voice and sing” in a voice that comes off prickly and cold.

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Eventually, he stops. Collaborators join in and begin searing American flags in hot oil as onlookers enjoy their barbequed lunch. The procession inaugurates Williams’ new exhibition, “Vertigo," which debuts with performances by Harris, DonChristian Jones, and ms. z tye, soundtracked by Kumi James. The reason for the occasion: the opening of Art Omi’s summer programming , including Williams’ aforementioned installation, an exhibition by Nathan Young, a large-scale installation by artist Riley Hooker, site-specific commissions by architects Beom Jun Kim and Jimenez Lai, as well as the American premiere of Germane Barnes’ critically-acclaimed Venice Biennale commission.

In between performances, visitors fresh from New York City, traverse the property’s sculpture park as well as its interior where Hooker’s colorful interconnected, inflatable structure titled SIT(UATION), 2022, offers unconventional, fun-house-esque spots for sitting (and reading), made in collaboration with architect Nick Meehan. Outside, an organic-looking column made from a single block of black marble for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale strikes a moving silhouette against the trees. The sculpture by Miami-based artist Barnes is based on the artist’s research on the connection between the African Diaspora and ancient architecture. At one point, noise musician and artist Young removes a dirt bike from inside his red- and blue geometric installation, brings it outside to the hub of the action, and hooks it up to a soundboard to play as an instrument, providing a soundtrack to all of Art Omi’s outdoor installations.

This collaborative, free-wheeling spirit is at the heart of Art Omi’s programming. When the international art center was founded 35 years ago by Francis Greenberger and friends, there were only a handful of international residencies in the United States. Now, there are hundreds. At the time, Art Omi’s residency program was revolutionary, bringing together artists from around the world in a raw, community-driven environment in a pre-Internet era. Today, collaboration is just a strong, with the Pavilions—set to debut in 2026—designed by artists and collectors together, including artists like Alice Aycock and Torkwase Dyson and architecture firms like SO — IL, Jahn/, and BKSK Architects.

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Over the past 32 years, Art Omi has welcomed artists from over 115 countries and expanded its programming to include international residencies for music, writing, dance, an architecture. Since 2017, its one-of-a-kind architecture residency brings together 10 emerging architects to collaborate and work on individual projects. The medium is one that Art Omi proves is ripe with potential when given the space to breathe, and to frame performances. Case-and-point: Hooker’s "Crisis Carnival" on July 27, an event that is part variety show and part symposium. “We like to talk to artists about things they’ve always wanted to realize, and how to make it happen,” says Sara O’Keeffe, senior curator of the Sculpture and Architecture Park. “We are down for projects that are weird,” she emphasizes, “we invite that.”