Treaties on De-Fences by Jorge Otero-Pailos

On view through June 13, 2026, at the Onera Foundation, New Canaan, Connecticut.

The Onera Foundation’s inaugural exhibition Treaties on De-Fences explores Jorge Otero-Pailos work on the Eero Saarinen-designed Cold War-era US Embassy in Oslo, Norway. In 2017, the US government decommissioned the Saarinen-designed embassy in Oslo — a modernist masterpiece. Otero-Pailos participated in the four-year-long restoration of the embassy. When the steel fence that had guarded the embassy for over fifteen years was destined for destruction, Otero-Pailos saved it by turning it into a series of sculptures. Treaties on De-Fences features a selection of these sculptures, as well as an artist book of prints inspired by the fence. This exhibition is curated and produced by the Onera Foundation in close coordination with Otero-Pailos Studio and the National Museum of American Diplomacy.