The Onera Foundation presents exhibitions that explore the intersections of art, architecture, and preservation, with a focus on significant American architecture. These exhibitions highlight experimental preservation practices, modernist design, and the evolving role of architecture in shaping culture and public memory.
Exhibitions
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Treaties on De-Fences by Jorge Otero-Pailos
On view from October 1, 2025 through March 28, 2026
Onera Foundation’s inaugural exhibition will be Treaties on De-Fences, a special exhibition by Spanish-American artist and preservation architect Jorge Otero-Pailos whose practice probes the intersections of preservation and contemporary art.
Exploring Otero-Pailos’ artistic intervention in the preservation of the Eero Saarinen-designed Cold War-era US Embassy in Oslo, Norway, the exhibition epitomizes the Onera Foundation’s distinctive approach in supporting cultural programming that can creatively advocate for the historic preservation of significant American architecture.
Curated and produced by the Onera Foundation in close coordination with Otero-Pailos Studio, Treaties on De-Fences will span five galleries across the first two floors of 63 Park Street.
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The Cold War-Era US Embassy Program & Modern New Canaan
On view from October 1, 2025 through March 28, 2026
This exhibition highlights the mid-century embassies built in The Hague and in Dublin by architects Marcel Breuer and John Johansen respectively.
Johansen and Breuer were two of the Harvard Five, a group of famous Harvard graduates who settled in New Canaan beginning in the late 1940s.
Both architects designed significant homes in New Canaan prior to designing their embassy projects.
The exhibition examines how the architects’ early experimentations in domestic design and architecture informed and inspired the modern language they later brought to their diplomatic architecture.