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Prof. Robert Lzicar

Profile

Prof. Robert Lzicar Studiengangsleiter MA Design

Contact

  • Contact hours Tuesday
    Wednesday
    Thursday
  • Address Berner Fachhochschule
    Bern Academy of the Arts
    Gestaltung und Kunst
    Fellerstrasse 11
    3027 Bern
You can find more information on the German profile page.

Activities

CV

  • Robert Lzicar is a designer, professor, and researcher. He is based at the Bern University of the Arts HKB, where he teaches design history, directs the MA Design, and coordinates the Research Field Design History. He is co-coordinator of the research project “Swiss Graphic Design & Typography Revisited” (SNSF Sinergia, from October 2016).

    In his academic career, Robert Lzicar is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate School of the Arts of the University of Bern and the HKB. Previously, he earned an MA in Research on the Arts at the University of Bern and a CAS qualification programme for young researchers at Swiss art universities. As undergraduate, he studied Information/Medien (Diplom FH) at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd and Visuelle Kommunikation at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich (today Zürcher Hochschule der Künste).

    As a designer, Robert Lzicar is a partner in the design studio STVG in Zurich. Before that, he worked for WBG AG für Visuelle Kommunikation (in the competition for the ninth series of Swiss banknotes), Trix Barmettler and Miriam Bossard as well as Designalltag Zürich – Ruedi Rüegg. At the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich, he was responsible for communication at the Chair of Building Technology.

    Robert Lzicar focuses on design-led innovation as well as historical topics and historiography in the fields of graphic design and visual communication. He organized the symposia “It Wasn’t Written” (with Julia Meer, MoMA, New York, 2018), “Mapping Graphic Design History in Switzerland” (HKB, 2014) and is editor of the publication of the same name (with Davide Fornari, Triest Verlag, 2016).

Projects

Publications

  • SIGEGS-Input-Reihe: «Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited – Aktuelle Ansätze der Designgeschichte und die Rolle der Archive». Schweizerische Interessengemeinschaft zur Erhaltung von Grafik und Schriftgut, Online, 2. März 2022.

  • Interdisziplinäre Ringvorlesung «Flüssige Identitäten in den Feldern von Kultur, Geschlecht und Politik»: «Swiss Graphic Design Histories». Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst, Schweiz, 17. November 2021.

  • Gespräch «Typografie – Max Bills Rolle bei der Entwicklung eines schweizerischen Exportschlagers». Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Schweiz, 7 November 2021 (mit Fabienne Eggelhöfer)

  • Meet the Authors: Talk about Swiss Graphic Design Histories and their underlying research project. Design History Society Annual Conference «Memory full? Reimagining the relations between design and history». FHNW HGK Basel, Switzerland, 3. September 2021 (with Davide Fornari; Sarah Klein; Sandra Bischler and Sara Zeller)

  • Spezialführung «Bauhaus und Plakatgeschichten». Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Schweiz, 17 November 2019 ( mit Bettina Richter)

  • Look Back to Move Forward. Typographische Gesellschaft München, Vortragsreihe »connect – disconnect«. Gasteig, München, Deutschland, 20. Juni 2017.

  • An inclusive approach to Design History. Treffen des Netzwerk Designgeschichte. Hochschule der Künste Bern HKB, Schweiz, 11. November 2017.

  • Designed Histories: Visual Historiography and Canonization in Swiss Graphic Design History. Yale University School of Art, New Haven, USA, 15 February 2017 (with Davide Fornari)

  • Critique is not enough: Creating social impact in institutional constraints. Parallel School Lausanne, Lecture Series “Art School Identities”. Harpe 45, Lausanne, Switzerland, 11. September 2015.

  • Wer gestaltete den Swiss Style? Ausstellungsgespräch. Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Schweiz, 10. Juni 2015.

  • The intrinsic logic of editorial design: How it can be understood? How it can be produced? Zurich University of the Arts, Institute of Design Research, International Symposium on Methodology in Design: The Intrinsic Logic of Design. Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich, Switzerland, 3. October 2014 (with Jonas Vögeli).

  • Designhistory made in Switzerland: Wie Schweizer Grafikdesign Geschichte schrieb. Nacht der Forschung 2014. Universität Bern, Schweiz, 6. September 2014.

  • The construction of Swiss Graphic Design: Auswirkungen von Grafikdesigngeschichte auf zeitgenössische Interpretationen von Grafikdesign. Slanted Magazine, Swiss Graphic Design Conference: Il y a le feu au lac. HfG Karlsruhe, Deutschland, 5. Juni 2014.

  • A Practitioner-Academic-Historian. Vortragsreihe „Designpositionen“. HTWG Konstanz, Deutschland, 15. April 2014.

  • Grafikdesigngeschichte in der Schweiz: Eine Bildergeschichte. Museumsnacht Bern 2014. Hochschule der Künste Bern, Schweiz, 21. März 2014.

  • Practitioners’ histories: Chances and challenges of a historiographical model in Swiss graphic design history. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Designtheorie und -forschung, 9. Kolloquium Design promoviert. Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst, Schweiz, 1. Juni 2013.

  • Ornament und Digitalität - Das Revival der Ornamentik Alphonse Muchas im digitalen Zeitalter. Museum Bellerive Zürich, Schweiz, 11. April 2013.

Memberships

Language skills and intercultural knowledge

  • German - Native or bilingual proficiency
  • English - Full professional proficiency
  • French - Elementary proficiency