1970 Earth Day, New York City

Earth day

April 22, Union Square, Fifth Avenue / Yukihisa Isobe, designer ; Environmental Action Coalition.

Earth Day began as the brainchild of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who tied the teach-in concept used by contemporary Vietnam War protesters to the environmentalist movement.

After proposing the idea of a nationwide environmental teach-in in September 1969, Nelson formed the nonprofit Environmental Action, Inc. to act as a planning group for the big event, set for April 22, 1970.

Yukihisa Isobe, as early as in the sixties, tackled with this innovative pneumatic structure, and created to a huge dome for Earth Day in 1970. He had installed in New York and succeeded in acquire the green card for to get a position in Department of the Park in New York City. In this time of ecology, he created a poster for Earth Day, with the background of young Americans’ anti-war for Vietnam, AIDS or drug problems.

This exhibition features on the development of pneumatic structure and its derivatives, newly introduced as a material in the architecture as well as design in post-war period. It includes maquettes, drawings and photos.

Source Collection

• Yanker poster collection (Library of Congress)
• Images of the Air Dome at 1970 Earth Day Celebration in Union Square, NYC. Courtesy of Yukihisa Isobe and Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo

Citation

Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. (1970). Earth Day - April 22 Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/99456370-bfc0-0138-1e68-005b448b448b