If the Pantheon was 8.1 times smaller, and instead of one oculus, it had four oculi, and if that foreboding, heavy front portico was replaced by three equilateral triangular cutouts around the perimeter, and it was no longer a monumental Roman temple for all the gods, but instead a temporary place for people to gather, dangle their legs, stop for a moment in the shade, take a photo, focus on their environment, relax, listen; if it was less about looking upwards and instead about looking outwards, downwards, sideways, askew; if it was a paper-thin, lightweight, woven, reflective aluminum-shingled, quasi-structural shell made from 3mm-thick pieces stitched together like a crinoline dress, a kit of parts with 3,412 stainless-steel bolts, a silo top misplaced, a Bucky Fuller dome re-imagined by Philip Guston; something that could time travel, that could lift off and land somewhere else, easily assemblable, reassemblable, something that could be installed by two to three people in 11 days during extreme weather events, and be played by a group of avant-garde percussionists—then maybe it would be something like this. Or maybe not at all.

SUPPORT

Courtesy MOS. Made possible by Princeton University Magic Grant, The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown 

MOS: M. Meredith, H. Sample, M. Giannone, J. Wood, Y. Bienz, M. Leston, F. Denari, A. Meredith, J. Meredith

Engineering: Bollinger + Grohmann, R. Greenlee

Major support for Art Omi is provided in part by the Francis J. Greenburger Family Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, Time Equities Inc., and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

In-kind support provided by Pocketbook Hudson, Preferred Hotel Partner of Art Omi.