New York City

The Asia Society Museum

February 13 – August 11, 2024
Presented by Asia Society

Throughout the six-month run of COAL + ICE, climate change took center stage at Asia Society New York, including speaker events, performances, films, and more. Asia Society joined forces with a network of partner organizations across New York City’s five boroughs to concurrently present exhibitions and events, expanding the conversation to inspire deeper engagement on how the climate crisis affects our global and local communities.

Comprising the work of more than 30 photographers from China and around the world, the exhibition traces a photographic arc from deep within coal mines to the melting glaciers of the greater Himalaya and across the globe, where rising sea levels and extreme weather events are wreaking havoc. The imagery in COAL + ICE is drawn from diverse materials, from glass-plate negatives to smartphone videos, spanning more than a century. Through intimate portraits and vast altered landscapes, these photographs document the consequences triggered by our continued reliance on fossil fuels.

The third floor of the exhibition takes things a step further to reflect the innovative ideas for climate solutions that have germinated most recently, with Maya Lin, Jake Barton (of Local Projects), and Superflux contributing to the actions we can take collectively.  Maya Lin’s project What Is Missing? comprises videos and a visually stunning and in-depth website, focusing attention on species and places that have gone extinct or will most likely disappear within our lifetime if we do not act to protect them. Jake Barton’s CarbonVision Cards provides visitors with take-home postcards. Organized by categories from fashion to finance to local government to K–12 schools, the postcards list fundamental changes that are needed.

Superflux, the London-based international award-winning design firm co-founded by Anab Jain and Jon Arden, has created New York, 2050: A Possible Future, a fully-immersive, multi-sensory, installation, in the final section of COAL + ICE. As visitors enter the space, experience what New York actually looked like in 2023, when Canadian fires coated its skies with a thick orange smog. The second space is a 360-degree, slow-moving, visual rendering of what the city could look like in 2050, with utopian views of self-sustaining rooftop, balcony, and indoor farms, pedestrian walkways and riverboats in place of cars, and wind and solar energy in place of coal and gas. New York 2050 invites viewers to take a step into New York in 2050 and beyond to experience what a hopeful future can look and feel like.

During the longest run of the exhibition yet, New York’s COAL + ICE included six months of programming at the intersection of arts, policy, education, climate science, environmental activism, and everywhere in between.

COAL + ICE joined forces with a wide range of artistic, environmental, and service organizations. While COAL + ICE was on view at Asia Society, these organizations were concurrently presenting climate-related programs to diverse audiences across the five boroughs and beyond. These collaborations aimed to inspire deeper engagement and meaningful dialogue on how the climate crisis affects our global and local communities. Check out the full list of our New York Climate Action Partners and an archive of their 2024 season of programming here.

Visitors to COAL + ICE at Asia Society were invited to visualize and share their thoughts and ideas about the climate crisis with the COAL + ICE Climate Posterator, an online tool enabling anyone to create their own climate action poster using artworks from photographers in the exhibition.

View the gallery of posters inspired by COAL + ICE and created by visitors to its New York exhibition!

COAL + ICE is funded by the generous contributions of The Schmidt Family Foundation, Janet Ross, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Frank and Susan Brown, Adobe, Jerome Dodson, Stephanie Hui, Denise and Andrew Saul, Carlo Mormorunni and Magdalena Gross, and Anonymous Donors. Additional support is provided by Nancy Stephens and Rick Rosenthal, Laumont Editions, and Jane Shaw. Nancy Stephens, Michael Tilson Thomas, Alice Waters, and Lana Wong.

“if you can present something that is telling at the same time it’s beautiful then maybe you’ll get them to look whereas otherwise they might not choose to look.”

— Orville Schell

Orville Schell
Vice President, Asia Society, and Arthur Ross Director, Center on U.S.-China Relations
Claudia Klinck
Program Associate
Mary Kay Magistad
Senior Fellow
Taili Ni
Senior Program Officer
Bin Ouyang
Associate Director, China Programs
Jeffrey Sequeira
Associate Director, U.S. Programs
Suxin Yan
Program Assistant

Oscar de la Fe Colon
Director, Audio Visual Systems
Sarah Deng
Strategist, Social Media and Content Partnerships
Bryanna Entwistle
Digital Content Specialist
Kylie Harwell
Manager, Email Marketing
Clara Lambert
Manager, Branding and Design
Ami Li
Assistant Director, New York Marketing
Megan MacMurray
Director, Digital Product
Tina Menina
Video Editor
Elaine Merguerian
Director, Communications and Marketing