Confronting Carbon Form

Exhibition

January 31 - March 8, 2024 | ARCH 121 Gallery

Confronting Carbon Form interrogates how the adoption of fossil fuels transformed the way humans think about space. The show has two goals. The most immediate is to define the spatial order that emerged with the adoption of a carbon-based energy paradigm: carbon form. The work identifies specific urban archetypes, spatial concepts, and historical narratives that are characteristic of the carbon age. This leads to the broader goal of the work: to offer a different lens for theorizing the relationship between energy and form that is not just about building efficiency. The work in the exhibition also experiments with representation. The objects are almost all original works by Stanley Cho, Elisa Iturbe, and Alican Taylan. They consist of models, paintings, drawings, projections, and an interactive library. Through this variety of mixed media, the work presents the groundwork for a new theory of form, where architecture and the city are read alongside the political, economic, and ecological configurations that shape contemporary life.

The exhibit Confronting Carbon Form has been curated by Stanley Cho, Elisa Iturbe and Alican Taylan, and was originally exhibited at the Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery at The Cooper Union in March 2023.

The exhibit was supported by Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. It was also supported by Independent Projects, a partnership program of the New York State Council on the Arts and The Architectural League of New York. Independent Project grants are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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