In the three sub-projects, mixed groups of researchers from the different institutions will investigate different aspects of Swiss graphic design – its teaching, its networks and its forms of publication. Using methods grounded in current approaches to historical analysis and cultural theory, they will search through archives, analyse textual, pictorial and design sources such as curricula, publications
and individual testimonies, and they will interview key figures in the field. In this manner they will be able to identify formative networks, practices and media. The result will be a critical contribution to our understanding of the emergence and current self-perception of Swiss graphic design and typography. Above and beyond this, the project will help to consolidate ‘design history’ as a field of research and practice in Switzerland, and will provide new, relevant findings for the international scholarly discourse on visual communication.
This project is particularly relevant right now, because Swiss graphic design and typography is one of eight Swiss traditions currently applying for a place on UNESCO’s‘List of Intangible Cultural Heritage’.
Participating universities:
- FHNW HGK – Academy of Art and Design Basel
- HKB – Bern University of the Arts (Project coordinator)
- University of Bern, Institute of Art History
- HEAD – Genève – Geneva School of Art and Design
- ECAL – Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne
- SUPSI – University of Applied Sciences and Arts
- of Southern Switzerland
- ZHdK – Zurich University of the Arts
Participating researchers:
Applicants:
- Prof. Dr. Arne Scheuermann (project coordinator)
- Prof. Michael Renner (coordinator of sub-project A)
- Prof. Dr. Sarah Owens (coordinator of sub-project B)
- Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schneemann (coordinator of sub-project C)
Co-coordinators and researchers:
- Dr. Davide Fornari
- Prof. Robert Lzicar
Researchers:
- Chiara Barbieri
- Prof. Rudolf Barmettler
- Roland Früh
- Jonas Niedermann
- Prof. François Rappo
Doctoral students:
- Jonas Berthod
- Sandra Bischler
- Constance Delamadeleine
- Ueli Kaufmann
- Sarah Klein
- Sara Zeller
Contact:
Prof. Robert Lzicar
(Co-coordinator and spokesperson of the project)
E-mail: robert.lzicar@hkb.bfh.ch
Telephone: +41 31 848 49 02