Danielle Aubert is a graphic designer whose work examines materials, methods of production, machines and labor. She is the author of The Detroit Printing Co-op: The Politics of the Joy of Printing (2019: Inventory Press), Marking the Dispossessed (2015: Passenger Books), and 16 Months Worth of Drawings in Microsoft Excel (2006: Various Projects). She is co-author, with Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani, of Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies (2012: Metropolis Books).
She is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Wayne State University, in Detroit. In 2021 she was elected President of AAUP-AFT Local 6075, the union of faculty and academic staff at Wayne State. From 2013-15 she was a Fellow in the Creative and Performing Art at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University. She is a 2021 recipient of a $25,000 Kresge Award.
Aubert holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Virginia and an MFA in graphic design from Yale University. She practiced graphic design in New York and Moscow before returning to graduate school. In 2005 she moved to Detroit, where she started her own practice before joining the department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University in 2008.
Danielle Aubert | 2021 Kresge Artist Fellow from Kresge Arts in Detroit on Vimeo.
Interviews
Detroit Comix Party (May 2022)
Scratching the Surface podcast interview with Jarret Fuller (2020)
librarylibrary.org interview with Rebecca Wilkinson (2020)
Education
Yale University
2005 | New Haven, CT
Master of Fine Arts
Graphic Design
University of Virginia
1998 | Charlottesville, VA
Bachelor of Arts with High Distinction
English Literature
Teaching Appointments
Associate Professor
Wayne State University
2017 – present | Detroit, MI
Assistant Professor, 2008–2017
Introduction to Graphic Design, Typography, History of Graphic Design, Graphic Design 2, Graphic Design 3, Senior Studio, Senior Seminar
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Princeton University
2013 – 2015 | Princeton, NJ
Visual Form, Circulation, Dance on Camera, Advanced Graphic Design
Adjunct Faculty
College for Creative Studies
2005 – 2008 | Detroit, MI
History of Graphic Design, Introduction to Time-Based Media, Advanced Time-Based Media, Introduction to Web Design
Collaboration
CLANADA
with Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani
formerly Placement Publications
2008 – 2018
International Typographical Union
with Lana Cavar
2006 – 2013
Books
The Detroit Printing Co-op: The Politics of the Joy of Printing
2019
Publisher: Inventory Books
Marking the Dispossessed
2015
Publisher: Passenger Books
Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies: Lafayette Park, Detroit
2012
with Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani
Publisher: Metropolis Books
Abandoned Letterhead
2011
with Maia Asshaq
16 Months Worth of Drawings in Microsoft Excel
2006
Publisher: Various Projects
Articles
Anything Can Happen with Lorraine Perlman
South Atlantic Quarterly 119 (Jul. 2020)
In the 1970s, The Detroit Printing Co-op Showed the Revolutionary Potential of Design
Eye on Design (Feb. 2020)
Poletown vs. GM with Kikko Paradela
C Magazine 141 (Spring 2019)
Black & Red 6 1/2
Counter Signals 3 (Fall 2018)
The Politics of the Joy of Printing in Detroit
Counter Signals 1 (Fall 2016)
The Politics of the Joy of Printing in Detroit
Infinite Mile Issue 3 (Jun. 2016)
File Sharing: Reading the Index in Rosalind Krauss and Wim Crouwel
Book 2.0 Vol. 3, no. 2 (2014)
Publisher: Intellect Publishers (UK)
INTERVALS IN TIME AND SPACE
Infinite Mile Issue 3 (Feb. 2014)
Living with Mies: The Towers at Lafayette Park
Design Observer: Places (Apr. 5, 2012)
with Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani
Living with Mies / Living Rooms with a View
The New York Times: Opinionator (Oct. 14, 2010)
with Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani
Perspectives In and Outside of Detroit: Living with Mies
IDEA: Arts + Society #33-34 (Romania, 2009)
Projects
Reading the Dispossessed
2015-2018
Dear Rockaway,
2013-2014
Invited by AIGA/NY
with Natasha Chandani
Paper Rehabilitation Project
2011-2013
with Maia Asshaq
Center for Abandoned Letterhead
2011-2014
with Maia Asshaq
Selected Awards
Kresge Literary Arts Award recipient, 2021
Knight Arts Challenge Award recipient, 2018
Princeton University Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts 2013-2015
Brno Biennial, Czech Republic, 2012
AIGA 50/50 2012, 2010, 2009
AIGA Detroit Design RE:View Best of Show and Judge’s Choice 2011
Type Director’s Club Tokyo 2010
Bradbury Thompson Memorial Prize for Graphic Design 2005
Selected Client Work
Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2015
Designed booklet for GSD publications
Infinite Mile Year 2 Anthology, 2015
Designed printed version of online Detroit arts and culture journal
Bend, 2014
Exhibition catalogue for Iris Eichenberg
Client: Cranbrook Art Museum
Camp/Anti-Camp, 2012
Posters and print collateral design for festival at Hebbel-am-Ufer Theater (Berlin, Germany)
MEC, 2009
with Mevis & van Deursen (Netherlands)
Artist monograph design
Client: Mary Ellen Carroll, SteidlMack
LIVE FILM! JACK SMITH! 2009
Poster and print collateral design
Arsenal and Hebbel-am-Ufer (Berlin, Germany)
Criticism, 2008 - 2017
Journal redesign, cover designs
Client: Wayne State University Press
ReFusing Fashion: Rei Kawakubo, 2008
Catalogue and exhibition design
Client: Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
HEATH (PLAGIARISM/OUTSOURCE), 2007
Book design
Client: Tan Lin, Zasterle Press
Group exhibitions
Assemblages Souples/Loosely Assembled
with Bianca Ibarlucea and Kikko Paradela
Apr. 23 – May 23, 2019
SBC Gallery, Montreal
Tracing Waste
Feb. 25 - Mar. 3, 2015
Princeton School of Architecture
Princeton, New Jersey
Library of the Dispossessed and Center for Abandoned Letterhead
Jun. - Oct. 2014
26th Biennial of Graphic Design, Moravia Gallery
Brno, Czech Republic
Salon Light #9
Oct. 2012
Palais de Tokyo, Paris
The practical function of 12 networked publications with 4 books, 2 posters and 1 chart
Sep.-Oct. 2012
Galerie Daviet-Thery, Paris
Detroit, USA Fall 2012
Sullivan Galleries
School of Art Institute of Chicago
Pulp to Pixels: Artist Books in the Digital Age
Fall 2012
Hampshire College Art Gallery, Amherst, MA
Inside Lafayette Park
Apr. 2012
Lafayette Plaza, Detroit (Co-curated with Noah Resnick)
KISS: New Sincerity & New Romanticism in Art
2011
Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, KY
dreimal MIES (triple Mies)
Oct. 2011
Citykirche St. Nikolaus, Aachen, Germany, rethinking Mies Symposium, curated by Klaus Klever
Dimensions Vary
2008
Texas A & M University-Commerce
Technology and the Imagination
2006
Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI
Invited Talks
University of Illinois–Chicago
“Typographical Labor, Printing & Property”
Mar. 2016
Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Montréal
Oct. 2015
University of Toronto
Panelist for “Architecture Inside Out”
Feb. 2015
Museum of Art & Design, New York
with Natasha Chandani
Apr. 2014
ASAP 5 Conference, Wayne State University, Detroit
Panelist
Oct. 2013
Graham Foundation, Chicago
with Natasha Chandani and Noah Resnick
Nov. 2012
School of Art Institute of Chicago
with Maia Asshaq
Nov. 2012
GSAPP, Columbia University, New York
Panelist, "Photographing Detroit"
Nov. 12, 2012
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
Panelist
Oct. 2012
MoMA/PS1, New York
with Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani, in conversation with Michael Bierut
Oct. 2012
Van Alen Books, New York
with Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani in conversation with Alexandra Lange
Oct. 2012
Otis School of Art & Design, Los Angeles, CA
Apr. 2012
Segue Reading Series, New York
Apr. 2012
Printed Matter, New York
with Maia Asshaq and Lana Cavar
Mar. 2012
Motto, Berlin
with Lana Cavar
Jan. 2012
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
with Maia Asshaq
Nov. 2011
ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale), Helsinki, Finland
“Is Money Money”
2005
Performance
Graphic Design and Late Capitalism, with Bianca Ibarlucea and Kikko Paradela
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Mar. 2018
Reading the Dispossessed Sep. 2015
New York Art Book Fair, MoMA/PS1, with Mobius Percussion
Princeton Sound Kitchen Sep. 2014
Princeton University, with So Percussion
Continuously Festive May 2014
Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University
with Katy Didden and Jason Treuting
Disco Eats Itself 2007
Experimental Text Festival, Richard Foreman Theater, New York
performance directed by Tan Lin
Mirror Play 2005
Susanne Hilberry Gallery, Ferndale, MI
play directed by Carla Harryman
Visiting Artist / Designer / Guest Critic
Boston University
California College of Art
California Institute of the Arts
College for Creative Studies
Eastern Michigan University
Open Book Workshop, Traverse City, MI
Otis College of Art & Design
Parsons The New School for Design
Pratt
Princeton University
Rhode Island School of Design
School of Art Institute of Chicago
University of Michigan School of Art & Design
University of Michigan-Flint
University of Pennsylvania
Virginia Commonwealth University
Werkplaats Typografie, Arnhem, Netherlands
Yale University School of Art