

Since fall 2018, I work with Prof. Christoph Schenker and Michael Günzburger for the Institute for Contemporary Art Research IFCAR/ZHdK on the SNF research project „Hands-on“ on documenting and conveying artistic-technical processes in print. The project will run until end of 2021.
Andreas Züst worked for ETH Zurich in Greenland in the early 1970s as part of the North Water project. From this research stay until his untimely death in 2000, the artist photographed ice in its most diverse forms, wherever he encountered them. A selection from this extensive collection, edited by me and designed by Studio Krispin Heé, is now appearing as a publication, supplemented by texts by the filmmaker Peter Mettler, the cultural scientist Verena Kuni and the artists Jimena Croceri and Sarina Scheidegger.
„Pursuit of Wonders“ was published by Edition Patrick Frey in August 2020.
We have selected the new stipendiaries of the Residency Bibliothek Andreas Züst. Amir Avraham & Daria Kiseleva, Fatima Benhamza, İpek Burçak & Eren İleri and Samar Al Summary will be guests at the Alpenhof in April 2021.
Together with Marilin Brun I'm working until end of 2021 on an Artist Book and an exhibition on the section „Kunst und Kunstgewerbe“ of SAFFA 1928 (Swiss exhibition for women's work 1928). Details will follow.
As part of a Pro Helvetia Research Residency, I will be (artistically) researching community art and artistic-feminist projects in Nepal for a month. The trip will also serve as preparation for a publication on the radical art education of Doris Stauffer (to be published in collaboration with Chantal Küng and Simone Koller). The travel dates are still open due to the current situation (Covid).
Mara Züst
FH Visual Communication – ZHdK
MA History of Art and Photography – History of Modern Era – UZH
Born in 1976, Mara Züst lives with her family in Zurich. She holds a diploma in Design (Visual Communication FH/Theorie der Gestaltung und Kunst, ZHdK), a Masters in Art History with a minor in Modern History from the University of Zurich and a CAS Arts and International Cooperation (ZHdK). She works as an artist, mediator, author and researcher and is the person in charge of the estate of Andreas Züst which runs the Bibliothek Andreas Züst, Oberegg.
The central element of my work relates to developing original concepts for artistic and cultural endevours. These are mostly in the form of texts, books, exhibitions, literary events and workshops or a combination of them. To realize these concepts into the diverse forms they take, I work closely with professionals from various fields such as visual communication, photography, computer programming as well as the arts, and crafts like printings and wood work. Thematically, my interests are diverse and range from an aesthetic exploration of mundane phenomenons to artistic researches on book design and printing techniques, as well as the work of individual artists or designers.
Prizes and Nominations:
2020: Research-scholarship by Pro Helvetia for Nepal
2019: Kolkata—City of Print is awarded the Walter Tiemann Main Prize
2018: Grant by Pro Helvetia for the project „Mini-Zine-Library“
2016: „Doris Stauffer. Eine Monografie“ awarded Shortlist Wettbewerb „Die schönsten deutschen Bücher 2016“
2014: Research-scholarship by Pro Helvetia for Kolkata (India)
2011: Photobook „Himmel“ awarded „Die schönsten Schweizer Bücher 2011" (The Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2011)
2011: Photobook „Himmel“ nominated for the International Photobook Award 2012
2010: Scenography from the exhibtion „Andreas bis Züst – Eine Bibliothek auf Wanderschaft“ shortlisted for the Swiss Design Award 2009
2009: „Memorizer – Der Sammler Andreas Züst" awarded „Die schönsten Schweizer Bücher 2009“ (The Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2009)