Art Omi presents Staging Area: A Barn Raising in Two Parts (Part Two) by Erin Besler—an installation that celebrates the communal and performative dimensions of a barn raising in order to reveal the social possibilities embedded in the construction site. In early 2025, Part One of this work was presented as an exhibition in Art Omi’s Newmark Gallery. Utilizing component parts of the barn structure as well as archival images of vernacular barn architecture captured as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey, the show mirrored the form of a staging area—an initial gathering of materials and community members organized in advance of a barn raising.  

Part Two of Staging Area opened on July 26, 2025 with Let's Build Together, the installation of a barn structure in the Sculpture & Architecture Park at Art Omi. Staged as a public raising in collaboration with Build Hudson, the event brought together participants and visitors to collectively realize the construction process and further embrace the barn as a site of collaboration and shared labor. Special thanks to Justin Den Herder, TYLin.

Few structures have been as intensely labored over as the barn. From community raising weekends and feminist pedagogical projects to back-to-the-land conversions and acts of preservation, across the rural United States barns are sites where commonly held distinctions break down: between amateur participants and expert practitioners, nature and culture, individuals and collectives, manual trades and intellectual pursuits, and the discipline of architecture and the practice of building.

While American barns are often tied to romantic myths of isolation, self-sufficiency, and pragmatism, the collective efforts of barn raisings emphasize exchange, skill sharing, and more ubiquitous building practices. Here, catering kitchens, woodcraft workshops, and informal childcare unfold at the edges of the building process, weaving everyday life into construction. These practices challenge conventional notions of property and innovation, instead fostering systems of reciprocity and community over individualism and profit.

Staging Area: A Barn Raising in Two Parts (Part Two) is curated by Julia van den Hout, Senior Architecture Curator, with Guy Weltchek, Curatorial Assistant, and is commissioned by Art Omi.

ERIN BESLER

Erin Besler (she/they) is a co-founder of Besler & Sons, a studio that designs buildings, software, objects, exhibitions, and interiors. Erin’s interests focus on architecture as a collective project, exploring the social, pedagogical, and material aspects of construction, social media, and other means of producing and sharing content that rely less on expertise and more on ubiquity. Their work has been recognized by the Architectural League of New York, a United States Artists Fellowship, the Rome Prize in Architecture, and the Graham Foundation. They have exhibited internationally, including at The Tallinn Architecture Biennial, MODEL Barcelona Architecture Festival, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Architecture/Urbanism as part of the group exhibition “Now, There,” which was awarded the UABB Bronze Award. Erin’s collaborative design work and writing have been published widely in e-flux, FutureAnterior, Perspecta, Log, PLOT. Alongside practice, Erin teaches at Princeton University in the School of Architecture.

BUILD HUDSON

Build Hudson LLC is a design-build firm with an integrated workforce development program for teenagers and young adults based in Hudson, NY. Build Hudson offers on-site training in the construction trades to youth in Columbia and Greene counties. Through partnerships with local school districts, Columbia Greene Community College and other community organizations, Build Hudson offers both full-time apprenticeship and short-term learning experiences for young people to enter the trades. Build Hudson focuses on social justice, housing, and climate-smart building principles. Build Hudson aims to address inequity in our community through an intersectional approach to workforce training; building trust and community strength through teamwork and training.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPANTS

Inbal Abergil
Kevin Arnold
Cara Craven
Noelle Dillman
Tessa Flanagan
Jeremiah Hadi
Ohad Harosh
Ohri Harosh
Tamir Harosh
Peter Judge
Danielle Kwong
Rob Leising
Bill Martin
Mira Martin
Jon McCormack
Elizabeth O’Donnell
Karyn Schassler
Kate Schassler
Jack Schoepf
Ekam Singh
Jared Spears
Miles A. Willis

SUPPORT

Art Omi’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Major support for this exhibition is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Additional support is provided by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, as well as the Princeton University School of Architecture, University Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Humanities Council.