Galleries & Auditoriums

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The Cooper Union has two main auditoriums and multiple gallery spaces. Several galleries around the campus are used to exhibit the work of students and outside artists in solo or group shows. In 41 Cooper Square, the 41 Cooper Gallery and the Lubalin Center Gallery feature large windows offering views from the building’s entrance and an abundance of natural light. These spaces, often used in conjunction with one another and with the adjacent Rose Auditorium, serve as a highly visible site of artistic activity consisting of exhibitions, programs, and screenings for the Cooper Union community, neighborhood and city at large.

In the Foundation Building, a number of lobby galleries present students’ artwork in the historical heart of the school, near many of the studios and shops where it was created.

Beginning late in each fall semester and carrying through the spring, gallery spaces in both the Foundation Building and 41 Cooper Square showcase work by graduating seniors in The School of Art, with additional exhibitions of exchange student work, class projects and work by fellowship recipients. These exhibitions offer an opportunity for students to contextualize and showcase projects developed throughout the course of the year. The annual student exhibition at the end of the school year— referred to colloquially as the End of the Year Show—is mounted throughout the school’s exhibition, studio and classroom spaces and features the work of art, architecture and engineering students at all levels. 

For more information about specific spaces click below.

 

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.