“Natura Extracta: Continental Ecologies & Inter-Territorial Affairs” is the selection for the 2025 open call for Art on Audubon Terrace, a joint effort between the Hispanic Society Museum & Library and the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) in which local artists are invited to submit an original work to be installed on the Hispanic Society’s public Audubon Terrace.
Conceived as a living map of disrupted ecosystems, Natura Extracta explores how colonial and industrial extractivism have reshaped the natural environment and human geographies. The site-specific project by Oscar M. Caballero takes inspiration from the Pan-American Highway, the vast network of roads stretching more than 19,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina that was built over the course of the 20th century. Recontextualizing both the form of this massive infrastructural project and the native flora of the regions it intersects, Caballero explores the complex relationship between extraction, environmental transformation and the built environment. The immersive installation is constructed of plywood, mesh, ceramics and organic matter and will be anchored in the plaza as a lightweight tensile tent and series of freestanding sculptural fixtures.
Drawing on his architectural training and Nicaraguan heritage, Caballero investigates how colonial and industrial extractivism have shaped cultural memory and material landscapes. By tracing the movement of natural resources such as wood, stone and volcanic matter across borders, Natura Extracta investigates sites of rupture and transition, using mapping and fabrication to explore how environments reflect broader political and social histories.
Originally from Masaya, Nicaragua and currently based in New York, Oscar M. Caballero holds a Master’s degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University in New York City and is an adjunct professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. His multidisciplinary practice spans architecture, research and curatorial work, with recent exhibitions at the New York Latin American Art Triennial, the Americas Society and Art on the Ave.
