BuildFest 2026 at Bethel Woods Opens Act One: Staging, With Installations on View Through November
The fifth iteration of the Bethel Woods Art & Architecture Festival, known as BuildFest, took place from September 9 to 13 in Bethel, New York, on the historic grounds of Max Yasgur. Guest curator Stephanie Sang Delgado introduced a three-year initiative called Acts of Construction, commencing with Act One: Staging. This year’s festival saw participation from nearly 250 individuals representing 15 institutions, a significant increase from the four schools involved in 2022. Highlights included 13 main installations, two interventions, workshops, digital projections, musical performances, DJ sets, soccer matches, and camping activities. Teams from various universities, such as Cornell and UCLA, contributed to the projects. Sang Delgado highlighted the value of practical experience, and installations will remain accessible to the public until November. Proposals for Act Two will be invited in early 2027, with BuildFest tentatively scheduled for early September.
Key facts
- BuildFest 2026 took place September 9–13 in Bethel, New York, on Max Yasgur's farmlands, site of the 1969 Woodstock festival
- The festival marked its fifth year and the first chapter of a three-year curatorial vision, Acts of Construction, led by guest curator Stephanie Sang Delgado of Kean University
- Act One: Staging will be followed by Act Two: Choreography next year and Act Three: Performance in 2028
- Nearly 250 participants from 15 institutions took part, compared with four schools at the 2022 edition
- Thirteen primary installation projects and two interventions were built, alongside workshops, light and projection activations, music, and soccer games
- Participating schools included UCLA, University of Colorado Denver, University of Idaho, Cornell, Lehigh, Syracuse, Boston Architectural College, Kean, University of Kentucky, University of Oklahoma, University of Tennessee Knoxville, RIT, Carnegie Mellon, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Pratt Institute
- Installations are open to the public through November
- Open calls for Act Two: Choreography proposals will go out in early 2027, with BuildFest tentatively scheduled for early September
Entities
Artists
- Stephanie Sang Delgado
- Neal Lucas Hitch
- Galo Canizares
- Robin Evans
- Robert Wightman
- Emma Silverblatt
- Ryan Whitby
- Christina Chi Zhang
- Lauren Scott
- Hannibal Newsom
- Marta H. Wisniewska
- Praveen Menon
- Fabio Castellanos
- Henry Stankiewicz
- Austin Lightle
- Kutan Ayata
- Hunter Blackwell
- Cameron Kursel
- Danny Wills
- Morgane Copp
- Kelly Wilton
- Andrew Moore
- Kristina Fisher
- Benjamin Vanmuysen
- Megan Dang
- Rose Zhang
- Davis Richardson
- Sol Lewitt
- Rhys Gallagher
- Suzzanne Storhok
- Joshua Wells
- Luiza Mariotti Roggia
- Rivaldo Verano Porta
- Cami Heath
- Paulina Lopez
- Savannah Pratt
- Daylene Isley
- Reese Greenlee
- Ben Adomaitis
- Eli Galdston
- Taylor-Beth Huff
- Geoff Wilkerson
- Tong Xue
- Ava Dreifke
- Brooke Kenworthy
- Angelina Guo
- Sehyun Choi
- Torben Karl
- Colin Sutter
- Katie Marr
- Rhoda Ayele
- Daniel Max-Onakpoya
- Adam Stein
- Yumeng (Angel) Wu
- Shenandoah DeNardo
- Chloe Cheng
- Aimi Saloum
- Mitchell Ertle
- Catherine Sanchez
- Teniece Harris
- Jacob Hammer
- Danna Ochoa
- Carson Probert
- Selina Yueh
- Mia Mueller
- Eavan Flanagan
- Edozie Onumonu
- Felix Heisel
- Akua Appiah-Adu
- Sebastijan Jemec
- Amina Lahham
- Bodie Chisum
- Helen Bennett
- Jasper Owen
- Alegria Paez
- Jeremiah Caro
- David Nguyen
- Brody Frack
- Juanita Rivera
- Rene Sanders
- Rafael Silva
- Mateo Mesa
- Rida Sajjad
- Joelle Guay
- Ruby Foligno
- Martina Riad
- Thomas Hoy
- Oudai Al-Shuaibi
- Katherine Jaramillo
- Cristian Rojo
- Grace Edgeworth
- Logan Anderson
- Sean Powell
- Cailin Bussum
- Cade Schering
- Owen Flass
- Brandt Rentel
- Brittany Min
- Dalton Owens
- Nathan Logan
- Alexandra Ferreira
- Hannah Bennett
- Amber Grovet
- Jose Romero Bermudez
- Matthew Dowling
- Mia Tomaszewska
- Christian Payan Arostegui
- Abigail Kobza
- Andres Bertaud
- Aubrielle Prewitt
- James Charbeneau
- Natalie Huerta
- Kevin Harris
- Ni Hoang
- Olivia Hordvik Chaussee
- Helena Winchester
- Maria Toumbacaris
- Otis Harrison
- Julian Fontanel
- Audrey Martignetti
- Emma Hart
- Julia Kress
- Vincent Caruana
- Amos Lilly
- Emily Storino
- Sofia Houh
- Morgan Monile
- Daniel Bossett
- Hazel Buonopane
- Gaetan Pelletey
- Emma Phelps
- Catalina John-Melendez
- Max Whalley
- Shirley Xie
- Anvika Vasireddy
- Sean Kelleher
- Joseph Norman
- David Tang
- David Yao
- Michael Papagni
- Daniel Velasquez
- Gabriela Casciani
- Hallie Paige Meyer
- Katherine Lily Tang
- Chelsea Zhang
- Nihar Menon
- Allyson Devine
- Jack Zhang
- Allison Motler
- Abby Lagana
- Xinlei Lin
- Mia Chang
- Wendy Wu
- Ilia Wang
- Alex Corsico-Sanchez
- Kevin Ferguson
- Breyden Anderson
- Hannibal Newson
- Daniel Antonio Velasquez
- Noémie Despland-Lichtert
- Brendan Sullivan Shea
- Rachel Buse
- Kevin Furguson
Institutions
- Bethel Woods Art & Architecture Festival
- BuildFest
- Kean University
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- Cornell University
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- UCLA
- University of Colorado Denver
- University of Idaho
- Lehigh University
- Syracuse University
- Boston Architectural College
- University of Kentucky
- University of Oklahoma
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Pratt Institute
- Regenerative Architecture Lab
- Switch!
- Mero Studios
- Dattner
- NJIT
- Architectural Association
- The Architect's Newspaper
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Kean University School of Public Architecture
- MERO Studios
- California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
- University of Arizona
- See Saw Draw
- Bethel Woods Art and Architecture Festival
- Dezeen
Locations
- Bethel
- New York
- United States
- Max Yasgur's farmlands
- Woodstock