THE TOWER 
Curated by Adam Liam Rose 
September 12 - November 1, 2026 
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 12 | 6:00 - 8:00pm 

Ortega y Gasset Projects (OyG) is proud to present The Tower, a group exhibition curated by OyG co-director and artist, Adam Liam Rose. The exhibition spans OyG’s Main Gallery, Project Space, and The Skirt, our dedicated space for site-responsive installations. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, September 12th, 2026 from 6-8pm, and run through November 1st, 2026. 

The Tower brings together the work of artists exploring the various symbolic archetypes of the vertical structure, ranging from human aspiration toward the divine, to psychological connections with catastrophe. As a form, the tower carries the weight of historical and spiritual associations: it is the Tower of Babel, symbolizing ego and the friction of miscommunication; it is the sixteenth card of the Tarot, representing a moment of sudden upheaval, confusion, and extreme change; and it is the panopticon, taking on the form of a "godly" overseer—the all-seeing and unavoidable lens of modern surveillance. The tower is often associated with power and access, and several artists in the show examine and question how elevated vision may dictate authority and mobility. Beyond these traditional anchors, some artists focus on the structure’s intimate, queer, or positive associations, representing moments of clarity, "eureka!," transformation, and community resilience. Through painting, drawing, sculpture, textile, ceramic, performance, video and photography, artists in The Tower navigate these ideas through both abstraction and figuration, often leaning into surreal and metaphysical interpretations that transform architectural height into a vessel for human ambition and spiritual inquiry. From literal stone structures to psychological boundaries, the tower evokes our desire to transcend the earthly, and the simultaneous danger and freedom in forgetting our foundations.

Participating Artists: Tyler Akers, Amanda Ba, Elijah Burgher, Peter Cage & Nicholas Knight, Patrick Carroll, Kevin Cobb, Anthony Cudahy, Marc Armitano Domingo, Hank Ehrenfried, Edie Fake, Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez, Gordon Hall, Meredith James, Cindy Ji Hye Kim, Alli Lemon, André & Evan Lenox-Samour, Ian Lewandowski, Leeza Meksin, Nick Naber, Luke O’Halloran, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Tura Oliveira, Alina Perez, Alison Ruttan, Rachel Stern, and Sara Stern. 

The exhibition is activated by a series of endurance performances by Peter Cage and collaborators. The artist will be plastic wrapped to a sculpture by Nicholas Knight on every Saturday of the exhibition. Please note these performances contain nudity. Performance dates: Opening Sept 12, 6-9pm, Sept 19, 4-6pm (substitute), Sept 26, 4-6pm, Oct 3, 4-6pm (substitute) Oct 10, 4-6pm, Oct 17, 4-6pm, Oct 24, 4-6pm (substitute), Oct 31, 4-6pm. 

A digital catalog will accompany the exhibition, to be launched at a closing event in November. Contributors include Dr. Victoria Ferentinou, Assistant Professor at the University of Ioannina where she teaches art theory and history of art; New York based writer Paul Legault, who wrote a poetic "translation" and re-interpretation of W.B. Yeats The Tower; and an introductory essay by exhibition curator and OyG Co-director Adam Liam Rose. More information to follow. 

Curator Bio: 
Adam Liam Rose (b. 1990) is an artist and curator based in Brooklyn, NY. Rose’s art practice explores the visual language and architecture of “safety.” He was a fellow at the Bronx Museum of the Arts' AIM Program, The Drawing Center’s Viewing Program, and the Art & Law Program. Rose was awarded artist residencies at TNT Residency (Brooklyn, NY), the Lower East Side Printshop Keyholder Residency ( New York, NY), the International Studio & Curatorial Program (Brooklyn, NY), Fire Island Artist Residency (Fire Island, NY), Triangle Arts Association (Brooklyn, NY), Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (Omah, NE), Ox-Bow School of Art (Saugatuck, MI), A-Z West: Institute of Investigative Living (Joshua Tree, CA), the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT) and the Chicago Artists Coalition's HATCH Residency (Chicago, IL). His publication 'Between the Bars' (Genderfail Press, 2021) is in the artist's book collection of MoMa Library, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, PRATT Institute, and The Frick Fine Arts Library in Pittsburgh. Rose received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago ('12) and an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts (‘17). He has acted as a co-director at the artist-run gallery Ortega y Gasset Projects since 2019. There, he curated group and solo presentations including: “The Displaced Image,” featuring the works of Anthony Peyton Young, Felipe Baeza, Ilana Harris-Babou, Joeun Kim Aatchim, Peter LaBier, Phoebe Osborne and Tommy Coleman (2021); “The Mother of Sighs,” a solo exhibition by Robert Hickerson (2021); “Take Root in the Air,” a solo exhibition by Darryl DeAngelo Terrell (2023); and “Study for a Scene,” a solo exhibition by Sara Stern (2024), among others. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY www.adamliamrose.com @adamliamrose

Mark Your Calendars and JOIN US!

“What’s the Future?” 

OyG Projects Fundraiser Event and Art Raffle 
 

An afternoon of spiritual reading, art collecting, and celebrating together! 

Sunday, October 25th, 2026
2-6pm
 

Ticket info and event details are in your future <3 

OyG Projects Micro-Residency
August 30th - September 6th 2026

Elizabeth Powell is a painter based in Burlington Vermont. She earned her MA and MFA in Printmaking with a secondary in Painting from the University of Iowa in 2020 and a BA in Economics and Fine Arts from the University of Vermont in 2016. She has a keen interest in color theory, patterning, and the morphology of shapes as psychological representations of femininity. Having extensively studied gender inequality in her economic studies, Powell explores the way the same sociological differences that lead to a systemic economic imbalance between men and women, present themselves in visual taste for form, pattern, and color. 

Since completing her MFA, Powell has presented solo exhibitions in Iowa, New York, and Vermont. Most recently, she exhibited in New York City for the first time in a solo booth at Future Fair, represented by Hexum Gallery. She also recently guest curated a three-person exhibition at Phoenix Gallery in Waterbury, Vermont. Powell has attended residencies at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Surel's Place, BreckCreate, and InCahoots 

Support the Future of OyG Projects with a Monthly Gift

Dear OyG Community,

Like many artist-run spaces, OyG Projects is navigating a challenging financial year. Since COVID, we've worked tirelessly to keep our doors open — drawing down our emergency reserves and steadily repaying an SBA loan that helped sustain us during the most uncertain times. While we’ve been fortunate to receive support in the past from grant makers, including the NEA, those sources are increasingly unpredictable in today’s rapidly shifting funding landscape.

Because of these challenges, we are currently faced with a $25,000 deficit for 2026. We must raise these funds in order to complete this year's programming, and to begin planning for our near future.

We are asking you to help sustain it

The most impactful way you can contribute is by becoming a monthly donor with a recurring gift of $5, $10, $25 or more a month.

We hope you will help us meet a tangible short-term goal:
75 monthly donors by the end of Summer. 

We are reaching out at an important moment for OyG Projects to ask for your support. We did not receive a major recurring grant this year and are working to fill a significant gap in our budget as we work to sustain programming and grow to support artists.

Your donations help OyG Projects remain sustainable amid increasingly limited grant funding. Your consistent commitment and support help us develop effective budgets, and help to stabilize our finances in between grant periods.

If you choose to donate $10, $25, $50, $100 per month or more we will provide you with free applications to our annual solo show open call and our annual curatorial open call. We will also offer occasional discounts for future events.

We are so grateful for your support, and hope you will help us continue to provide the programming and opportunities that support artists and bring our community together.

OyG Projects is a 501c(3) nonprofit and your donation is tax deductible. Thank you for 13 years of OyGoodness!

OyG Projects 

Clare Britt
Eric Hibit
Annamariah Knox
Xingze Li
Leeza Meksin
Nickola Pottinger
Adam Liam Rose
Zahar Vaks
Lauren Whearty