Presented by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture

"Three Views of Oman is a great example of the dialogue of cultures. Rather than repeating the Orientalist approach that has weakened so many Western studies of Arabic societies, this exhibition builds a new bridge between two civilizations with different histories but shared values."
- Radwan Ziadeh, George Washington University

Collected here for the first time is a history of Oman in images. One of the most developed and stable countries in the Arab world and among the earliest adherents to Ibadi Islam, the sultanate sits along the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. From early days of world trade through the port of Muscat to contemporary engagement with international diplomacy and the West, Oman has always evoked beauty and mystery in equal measure. The Three Views of Oman exhibition reveals the country as its contours emerged over the past seventy years in an intimate portrait through the eyes of the West, as captured in images by English explorer Wilfred Thesiger in the 1940s, British Army major Charles Butt in the 1970s, and award-winning American documentary photographer Edward Grazda in the first decade of this century. The exhibition chronicles the rapid social and physical changes in Oman, as well as the changing nature of photography itself over 60 years. These original photographs have traveled to Oxford and London, England; Grenada, Spain and other destinations; this will be the only presentation in New York City.

Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Friday 2pm-7pm, Saturday and Sunday 12pm-7pm
Exhibition on view: March 11 - April 25, 2015
 

Co-sponsored by the Architectural League of New York and The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture

Rick Joy Architects is a design-build practice that emphasizes the integrity of material, the process of making, and form. As Joy writes, his vision is to "create architecture that is regionally sympathetic and well grounded in the context and community of its place."

His work has been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in 2010; the Venice Biennale in 2012; and in "Welcome Home," a film for the exhibition House & Home commissioned by the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. in 2012. Princeton Architectural Press published the monograph Rick Joy: Desert Works in 2002.

Rick Joy Architects has won five Record Houses Awards; a Local Genius Award from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson in 2012; the National Design Award from the Smithsonian Institute/Cooper-Hewitt Museum in 2004; the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture in 2002; as well as AIA Arizona Honor Awards for Tubac House and 400 Rubio Avenue Studio in 2001. Recently named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Joy is also an Architectural League 2000 Emerging Voice and 1996 League Prize winner.

FREE TO CURRENT COOPER UNION STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF
 

Co-sponsored by the Architectural League of New York and The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture

The Wendy Evans Joseph Lecture on Art and Architecture presents the work of an artist whose work is inspired by the built environment. On May 12, artist Ursula von Rydingsvard will present her recent work in this public lecture.

Ursula von Rydingsvard is a sculptor based in Brooklyn. As noted by Galerie Lelong, the meaning behind her work is rooted in personal experience. "She creates large-scale sculpture from cedar beams which she cuts, assembles, and laminates, finally rubbing powdered graphite into the work's textured, faceted surfaces. Born in Germany in 1942, von Rydingsvard and her family were among the dispossessed that, after the war, were forced to move from one refugee camp for displaced Poles to another, eventually settling in the United States in 1950. The artist's respect for organic materials and the dignity of labor, sense of loss and pain, and the persistent memories that inform her work may be traced back to these formative experiences."

FREE TO CURRENT COOPER UNION STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF