The Storm

Wed, Jan 2, 2002 12am - Fri, Feb 1, 2002 12am

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"The Storm is not a single vector, but an accumulation, a community of vectors, unexpectedly acting in concert."—Lebbeus Woods

The Storm was an installation of drawings, architectonic elements, and high-tensile steel cables that were suspended in the Houghton gallery. Initially, elaborate drawings were produced on the walls at either end of the room that served as construction documents for the cables and elements that were then drawn-out through the space between them. If the turbulent geometries of these drawings suggested the origins of the storm, then they also illustrated the unpredictability of its effects, and with this gesture Woods implies that while the storm’s forces may be charted on the two-dimensional surface, the full force of its impact will always spring out, literally, into the three-dimensionality of space.

  • 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.