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“Analogue Sites” by Jorge Otero-Pailos Opens on Park Avenue Mall

Queen Sofia Spanish Institute
March 21, 2024

The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute is a proud sponsor of the exhibition and opening of “Analogue Sites” by Jorge Otero-Pailos in the Park Avenue Mall.

“Analogue Sites”, is a public art exhibition exploring the intersection of art, architecture, and cultural diplomacy by artist and preservation architect Jorge Otero-Pailos.

Comprising three monumental steel sculptures wrought from fencing that surrounded the former U.S. Embassy in Oslo and inspired by the historical significance of Cold War-era embassies as places of cultural exchange, Analogue Sites highlights the role of American modern art and architecture in cultural diplomacy and advocates for the preservation of these modernist masterpieces at this critical moment of their decommissioning.

On view from April 1st through October 31, 2024, “Analogue Sites” is installed along Park Avenue at East 53rd, 66th, and 67th Streets to respond to and engage with iconic modernist landmarks including the Seagram Building, the Lever House, and the historic Park Avenue Armory.

The “Analogue Sites” exhibition by Jorge Otero-Pailos is presented in partnership with NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks Program and The Fund for Park Avenue Sculpture Committee, and is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts, with funding provided by the Onera Foundation, the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute, the AECID, the Consulate General of Spain in New York, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor, the New York State Legislature, and individual donors.

The exhibition is accompanied by a free Bloomberg Connect digital guide, set to launch mid-April, which allows visitors to dive deeper into the sculpture-making process and the history of American modernist architecture.

About the artist: Jorge Otero-Pailos

Jorge Otero-Pailos (b. 1971, Madrid) is an American-Spanish artist, preservation architect, scholar, and educator renowned for pioneering experimental preservation practices. Alongside his artistic practice, he is Director and Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), where he also directs the Columbia Preservation Technology Lab, and where he founded the first Ph.D. program in Historic Preservation in the U.S. His works have been commissioned by and exhibited at major heritage sites, museums, foundations, and biennials, including the Chicago Architecture Biennale (2017), Artangel’s public art commission at the UK Parliament (2016), the V&A Museum (2015), and the Venice Biennale (2009). He is the recipient of a 2021-22 American Academy in Rome Residency in the visual arts. As a preservation architect, Otero-Pailos collaborates on the creative restoration and interpretation of landmark sites. Notably, Otero-Pailos achieved an award-winning restoration of New Holland Island in St. Petersburg, Russia, in partnership with WorkAC (2013) and the Saarinen-designed former U.S. embassy in Oslo, Norway, with Langdalen Arkitektkontor, Atelier Oslo and Lund Hagem Architects (2023). For more information, please visit oteropailos.com.

Exhibition Programming

To Transform: Analogue Sites

Discussion with Jorge Otero-Pailos and visual artist and Columbia University School of the Arts Visual Arts Program Chair, Matthew Buckingham

Thursday, March 21, 6:30PM
Columbia University, Lenfest Center for the Arts
615 West 129th Street, New York, NY 10027 (between Broadway and Riverside Drive)