Bio
Zak Kyes is a Swiss-American graphic designer based in London whose practice encompasses editing, publishing and curating. His work engages with publications and their dissemination as sites for debate and exchange rather than mere documentation. He is Art Director of the Architectural Association and has curated the touring exhibition Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design and co-edited the accompanying publication (with Mark Owens, 2007).
Kyes has lectured, juried, and taught workshops at London College of Communication; Architectural Association School of Architecture, Kunstencentrum Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium; Casco Projects, Utrecht, the Netherlands; IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden; Sint-Lucas beeldende kunst, Ghent, Belgium; Archizoom, Lausanne, Switzerland; and ECAL, Lausanne, Switzerland. He has recently founded Bedford Press, a private press established at the Architectural Association. He established his own studio, Z.A.K. in 2005 and was recently joined by Grégory Ambos.
The studio has previously included designers Lina Grumm and Julie Kim.
Education
California Institute of the Arts, BFA '05 Fine Art/Graphic Design, Valencia;
Hochschule für Gestaltung and Kunst, Term 3, Basel;
Skidmore College (incomplete), Dept. Art History, NY
Teaching
2008
- Tutor, AA Winter School, American University of Sharjah, Dubai, UAE;
- Since 2007, Tutor, Architectural Association School of Architecture, Media Studies;
2006
- Tutor, Architectural Association School of Architecture, Summer School;
- Associate Lecturer, London College of Communication, (LCC);
Exhibitions
2008
- 'Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design', Curator, Casco, Utrecht, Holland;
2007
- 'East Coast Europe' with Markus Miessen, Krome Gallery, Berlin, DE;
- 'Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design', Curator, Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, UK;
- '33 Livres Préférés', ENSAV La Cambre, BE;
2006
- 'All That Is Solid Melts Into Air' Kemistry Gallery, London, UK;
- 22nd International Bienalle of Graphic Design, Brno, CZ;
- Art Directors Club, New York, USA;
Lectures
2008
- 'The Forms of our Inquiry', Casco, Utrecht, Holland;
- 'Learning from Dubai', The Third Line gallery & American University of Sharjah, Dubai, UAE;
2007
- 'FOI: Lecture Series', Curator, Architectural Association, London UK;
- 'Catalogue 3: Bolid/Italic, Ghent, Belgium', Vooruit Theater, Sint-Lucas Beeldende Kunst;
- 'Catalogue 2: LCC, London, UK', London College of Communication;
- 'Catalogue 1: Bath Spa University, Bath, UK';
2003
- 'Artist as Engineer', I-DAT Univ. of Plymoth, UK;
2002
- 'Surface Play', Art In Motion III symposium, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Reading List
Beatriz Colomina, 'Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media', MIT Press, 1996;
Brian Eno, 'A Year With Swollen Appendices', Faber, 1996;
Buckminster Fuller, Jerome Agel and Quentin Fiore, 'I Seem to Be a Verb', Bantam Books, 1970;
George Perec, 'Species of Spaces and Other Pieces', Penguin, 2000;
Gerrit Noordzij, The Stroke: Theory of Writing, Hyphen Press, 2005;
J D Salinger, 'Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters', Penguin, 1998;
Mark Owens, 'New Romantics / New Brutalists', Forms of Inquiry, AA Pubs, 2007;
Maurice Stein, Larry Miller, Marshal Henrichs, 'Blueprint for Counter Education', Doubleday, 1970;
Norman M. Klein, 'The Vatican to Vegas: The History of Special Effects', New Press, 2004;
Paul Elliman, 'Voices Falling Through the Air', Forms of Inquiry, AA Pubs, 2007;
Richard Hertz, 'Jack Goldstein and the CalArts Mafia', Minneola Press, 2003;
Robin Kinross, 'Unjustified Texts: Perspectives on Typography', Hyphen, 2002;
The New Yorker, edited by David Remnick;
Will Holder, 'An Attempt to Evolve VII', Forms of Inquiry, AA Pubs, 2007;
Yve-Alain Bois, Rosalind Krauss, 'Formless: A User's Guide', Zone Books, 1997;