Landscapes of Extraction Exhibition

Landscapes of Extraction: The Collateral Damage of the Fossil Fuel Industries

As the first public exhibition mounted by the Institute, Landscapes of Extraction: The Collateral Damages of the Fossil Fuel Industries examined the fossil fuel industries’ unconventional, high-risk methods of extracting fuel sources. It is an approach that exists across the continent, from the northern forests of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and one that has resulted widespread environmental damage and dangerous levels of pollution. The exhibition featured the photography of J. Henry Fair, an internationally renowned photographer of environmental disasters and resource-extraction operations. His photographs exist between the beautiful and uncanny, the abstract and fact. Moreover, they inspire questions and provide certain truths into the subjects of the photography and efforts to silence environmental and political issues. The exhibition also included thirty original maps and diagrams produced by the Institute, documenting the extent of infrastructure and landscape impact associated with such industries as hydrofracking and mountain top removal.

  • 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.