Project documentation
Wolfgang Weingart: Typography in context
Investigations into tradition, media upheavals and innovation in the work of Wolfgang Weingart 1961-2004
The first major academic study on the typographic work of Wolfgang Weingart (born 1941) examined the creative attitude of the trained typesetter and explored his approach to the media innovations and research practices of his time. The research team positioned Weingart as a "tradition-conscious" innovator of typography. Weingart succeeded in establishing himself as a visual author by means of artistic strategies and upgrading the profession of typesetter. However, he was ambivalent about the use of new technologies. He rejected phototypesetting and digital typesetting for his own work, but promoted the differentiated use of computers in his teaching at the Basel School of Design. Weingart conquered new terrain with his explorative 'image research'. However, this had little in common with scientific research at contemporary universities. Instead, it was based on the artistic and practice-oriented tradition of the Basel School. The research results led to an exhibition with an accompanying booklet at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, which was subsequently also shown in China. A historiographical report on the research and exhibition project was published in 2016 in the congress publication Mapping Graphic Design History in Switzerland by Triest-Verlag.
Information on
- Financing
Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF/DORE Duration: April 2012 to December 2013 Research institute: ZHdK, Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts ICS
- Project management
Barbara Junod, Curator Graphics Collection
- Applicant
Prof. Dr. Sigrid Schade, Head of ICS
- Employees
Vanessa Gendre, member of the graphics collection Dr. Sarah Owens, Co-Head of the Visual Communication specialization at ZHdK
- Assistance
Louise Paradis and Gregory Vines, graphic designers
- Preliminary project
2010 to 2011, Barbara Junod and Claudia Mareis With start-up funding from the Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts ICS
- Cooperations
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Christian Brändle Weingart-Archiv Basel, Wolfgang Weingart Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW, Prof. Dr. Claudia Mareis, Head of the Institute for Design and Art Research, Basel Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK, Dep. Design, Visual Communication specialization, Kurt Eckert, Lecturer in Editorial Design em. University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf FH D, Department of Design, Prof. Victor Malsy, Typography and Book Design Ohio University, School of Art, Prof. Don Adleta, Head of Program in Graphic Design University of Illinois at Chicago: UIC School of Art and Design Chicago, Prof. Philip Burton, Chair and Professor in Design
- Publications
Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts ICS, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (ed.), Weingart Typografie, Ausstellungsstexte und Forschungsbericht / Exhibition Texts and Research Report [editor: Barbara Junod], ZHdK, 2014. Barbara Junod, "Untersuchung und Experiment: Hans-Rudolf Lutz und Wolfgang Weingart", in: Christian Brändle et al. (eds.), 100 Jahre Schweizer Grafik, Zurich: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Lars Müller Publishers, 2014, pp. 74-79. Barbara Junod, "Collaborative Historiography Under Institutional Constraints: The 'Wolfgang Weingart: Typography in Context Research Project' and 'Weingart Typoggraphy' Exhibition", in Robert Lzicar, Davide Fornari (eds.), Mapping Graphic Design History in Switzerland, 2016, pp. 226-248