Model Behavior

The term “model behavior” is commonly used to describe good social skills. This exhibition, curated by the Anyone Corporation, turns that concept on its head to investigate how models themselves behave. Conceptual models, study models, section models, and presentation models are givens in the practice and production of architecture, but the role of the architectural model in projecting or eliciting social behavior is seldom considered. At a moment when models in other disciplines – such as climate change and COVID models – are clearly affecting social behavior, how do architectural models reflect those changes or contribute to changing behaviors? This exhibition provides an opportunity for individuals to rethink the potentials of the architectural model, both within the discipline and in its relationships to the myriad models that shape contemporary culture.

Exhibited in the colonnade and first floor of Cooper Union’s historic Foundation Building, Model Behavior features more than 70 works and objects by 45 artists and architects including artists Olafur Eliasson, Isamu Noguchi, Ekow Nimako, and Thomas Demand, and architects Peter Eisenman, Darell Wayne Fields, Greg Lynn, Forensic Architecture (Eyal Weizman), First Office (Anna Neimark and Andrew Atwood), MALL (Jennifer Bonner), Ensamble (Débora Mesa and Antón García-Abril), and Höweler and Yoon (Eric Höweler and Meejin Yoon), as well as School of Architecture graduates Stan Allen AR’81, David Gersten AR’91, Jürgen Mayer AR’91, Jesse Reiser AR’81, and Nanako Umemoto AR’83, and faculty member Michael Young.

In tandem with the exhibition, the School of Architecture will present two Great Hall lectures. The first, set to take place on Monday, October 10, will be given by art historian Annabel J. Wharton. A discussion following the lecture will be moderated by Sylvia Lavin. A lecture by architect Kiel Moe will take place on Tuesday, November 8, followed by a discussion with Sanford Kwinter.

The exhibition was designed by New Affiliates (Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb). Generous support for Model Behavior has been provided by the New York State Council on the Arts and Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown.

Visitor Information: First Floor Colonnade and Lobby. Proof of vaccination and booster are required to enter The Cooper Union.