Art Omi

Art Omi
Name	Art Omi
Formation	1992
Founder	Francis Greenburger
Location	Ghent, New York, United States
Fields	Visual art, architecture, landscape, writing

Art Omi is an international arts organization and campus located in Ghent, New York, offering artist residencies, architecture and landscape programs, and public exhibitions. Founded in 1992, the institution hosts multidisciplinary practitioners and produces site-specific commissions, performances, and publications. Art Omi operates as a nexus between global cultural networks including museums, foundations, universities, and galleries.

History

Art Omi was founded by Francis Greenburger in 1992 on a rural property in Columbia County, New York, influenced by precedents such as MacDowell, Yaddo, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and Tanglewood residencies. Early programming drew comparisons to international platforms like Documenta, Venice Biennale, and the Whitney Biennial, while engaging curators from institutions including Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou, and Stedelijk Museum. Art Omi expanded over the 1990s and 2000s amid partnerships with cultural bodies such as the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and private patrons linked to collectors like Peggy Guggenheim and Charles Saatchi. The organization’s growth paralleled contemporary developments at MoMA PS1, Serpentine Galleries, and Brooklyn Museum in supporting emerging and mid-career artists. Significant milestones include the establishment of architecture residencies inspired by Bauhaus pedagogies and landscape commissions referencing work at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and Dia Art Foundation.

Campus and Facilities

The Art Omi campus occupies farmland and woodland near Hudson, New York and the Catskill Mountains, with proximity to New York City, Albany, New York, and Beacon, New York. Facilities include studios, communal houses, an exhibition pavilion, and specialized spaces developed with input from firms associated with OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), Herzog & de Meuron, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and Koolhaas. The campus infrastructure supports collaborations with institutions like Columbia University, New York University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University, Princeton University, and international partners such as Royal College of Art, École des Beaux-Arts, Beaux-Arts de Paris, Universität der Künste Berlin, and Tokyo University of the Arts.

Residencies and Programs

Art Omi runs multidisciplinary residency programs for visual artists, writers, architects, landscape architects, and performing artists, modeled in conversation with programs at Cité Internationale des Arts, Banff Centre, Headlands Center for the Arts, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and Asia Art Archive. The architecture residency has collaborated with practitioners linked to Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban, and David Adjaye. Writer residencies have hosted poets and authors connected to Poets & Writers, PEN America, The New Yorker, Granta, and HarperCollins. Programs include public talks, workshops, and exchanges with curators from SFMOMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Tate Modern, and National Gallery of Art.

Exhibitions and Collections

Art Omi organizes seasonal exhibitions, outdoor sculpture shows, and performances with curatorial contributions from figures associated with Istanbul Biennial, São Paulo Biennial, Sharjah Biennial, Kunsthalle Basel, Hamburger Bahnhof, and MAXXI. The site has hosted commissions by artists with careers intersecting institutions such as Broad Museum, Hammer Museum, Guggenheim Bilbao, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Dia Beacon, Fridericianum, and Walker Art Center. Collections on the grounds include temporary and permanent works by artists whose work circulates to museums like Tate, MoMA, Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale Center for British Art, and Victoria and Albert Museum.

Architecture and Landscape

Art Omi’s built and natural environments reflect collaborations with landscape architects and firms connected to Frederick Law Olmsted’s legacy, Piet Oudolf, James Corner (Field Operations), and studio practices associated with Sasaki Associates and Olin. Architectural interventions on site have involved designers with links to Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, KieranTimberlake, and New York Botanical Garden-affiliated planners. The landscape program commissions work engaging regional ecologies near the Hudson River, integrating concepts comparable to projects at Storm King Art Center, Olana State Historic Site, and Gibbs Farm.

Notable Artists and Alumni

Alumni include artists, architects, and writers whose careers intersect with Carmen Herrera, Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Cornelia Parker, Sarah Sze, Kara Walker, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Theaster Gates, Taryn Simon, Jenny Holzer, Cindy Sherman, Bruce Nauman, Jeff Koons, Mark Bradford, Julie Mehretu, Rachel Whiteread, Tomas Saraceno, Kehinde Wiley, Mona Hatoum, Danh Vo, Rashid Johnson, Isa Genzken, Ed Ruscha, Mary Heilmann, Thea Djordjadze, Elizabeth Peyton, Stanley Whitney, and writers tied to The Paris Review and Granta. Many alumni have gone on to exhibit at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Tate Modern, Palais de Tokyo, Haus der Kunst, Hayward Gallery, and participate in international biennials including Venice Biennale, Berlin Biennale, and Liverpool Biennial.

Funding and Governance

Art Omi operates as a nonprofit organization supported by private philanthropy, institutional grants, and partnerships with foundations such as Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, and corporate sponsors similar to initiatives by Bank of America and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Governance includes a Board of Directors with trustees who have affiliations with New York Public Library, American Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Council on Foreign Relations, and academic advisory ties to Columbia University School of the Arts, Yale School of Art, and Princeton School of Architecture. Financial support models echo fundraising strategies used by Metropolitan Museum of Art and Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

Category:Arts organizations based in New York (state)