
Personal Plots for the 2019 Istanbul Biennial
Personal Plots for the 2019 Istanbul Biennial
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Personal Plots, 2019
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16IB_AndreaZittel_Buyukada_OnurDogman (11)
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Personal Plots, 2019
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Personal Plots, 2019
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Personal Plots, 2019
Personal Plots, a large scale outdoor sculpture is a response to cultural attitudes about private property, personal space and structures of real estate – as well as the resulting structures of debt and bondage. Low concrete block walls tht demarcate human-sized, cell-like spaces that recall office cubicle, a private bedroom, or a cemetery plot. The work points to the way in which space, and its delineation, can be used as a medium for control and alienation while simultaneously marketed as a source of security, privacy and individualism.

Kunstmuseen Krefeld , 2019
Kunstmuseen Krefeld , 2019
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Fluid Panel State (carpet), 2019
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Planar Composition in wood #1 (table), 2019 Planar Composition in wood #2 (stools), 2019
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Planar Composition in wood #1 (table), 2019 Planar Composition in wood #2 (stools), 2019
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The summer house at Haus Esters, Kunstmuseen Krefeld
Zittel’s planar structures for the Summer House at Haus Esters are a continuation of her series of “Planar Configurations” series. Zittel characterizes horizontal panels (tables, benches, countertops and shelves) as “energetic accumulators” and vertical panels (paintings, walls, or surfaces that privilege the eye) as “ideological resonators.” The table, stools and carpet are integrated into the house and simultaneously address the site as a constructed, historical, social and mental space. The summer house was produced in the series of prefabricated houses in the early nineteen twenties by the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau—one of the major production plants within the reform movement since the late nineteenth century. The summer house is open as a café during certain fixed times. Opening hours can be found on the homepage of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld or at the ticket offices in Haus Lange and Haus Esters.

Studies for Planar Panels, 2017
Studies for Planar Panels, 2017
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Study for Planar Panel #5
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Study for Planar Panel #1
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Study for Planar Panel
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Study for Planar Panel
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Study for Planar Panel #4
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Study for Planar Panel
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Study for Planar Panel
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Study for Planar Panel
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Study for Planar Panel
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Study for Planar Panel

Studies for Planar Configuration, 2017
Studies for Planar Configuration, 2017
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Study for Planar Configuration
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Study for Planar Configuration #1
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Study for Planar Configuration
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Study for Planar Configuration
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Study for Planar Configuration #4
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Study for Planar Configuration #5

Planar Pavilions at A-Z West
Planar Pavilions at A-Z West
ClosePlanar Pavilions at A-Z West is a permanent public work sited on the land between Zittel’s residence and the adjacent highway. Ten Planar Pavilions are scattered across an area of about eleven acres. Each pavilion consists of a series of vertical planes that function as walls, boundaries, and divisions. These planes frame the surrounding landscape, isolate inside from outside, and provide physical and psychological forms of shelter. As the desert becomes increasingly developed, the pavilions function similar to ruins, or structures still in a state of construction, as an interstitial zone that is neither fully domesticated nor completely wild. In this instance the structures function both as architecture and as an extension of the landscape itself.
This site is the only part of A-Z West that is open to the public at all times. Viewers are invited to experience the Planar Pavilions in any way that does not alter or damage the structures, land, or surrounding vegetation. Support for the project was provided in part by a grant from the VIA Art Fund and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Planar Configuration Two, 2017
Planar Configuration Two, 2017
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Planar Configuration Two (#1)
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Planar Configuration Two (#1)
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Planar Configuration Two (#2)
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Planar Configuration Two (#1-2)
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Planar Configuration Two (#1-2)

Planar Configuration Three, 2017
Planar Configuration Three, 2017
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Planar Configuration Three (#1-3)
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Planar Configuration Three (#1)
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Planar Configuration Three (#1)
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Planar Configuration Three (#1)
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Planar Configuration Three (#2)
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Planar Configuration Three (#2)
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Planar Configuration Three (#1-3)

Planar Configuration Four, 2017
Planar Configuration Four, 2017
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Planar Configuration Four (#1)
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Planar Configuration Four (#1)
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Planar Configuration Four (#2)
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Planar Configuration Four (#2)
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Planar Configuration Four (#1-4)
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Planar Configuration Four (#1-4)
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Planar Configuration Four (#1-4)

Parallel Planar Panels, 2017
Parallel Planar Panels, 2017
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Parallel Planar Panel #3 (grey, black, off-white, pink)
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Parallel Planar Panel #3 (grey, black, off-white, pink)
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Parallel Planar Panel #4 (grey, black, off-white, gold)

Studies for Planar Configurations, 2016
Studies for Planar Configurations, 2016
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Study for Planar Configuration Variant #1
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Study for Planar Configuration Variant #2
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Study for Planar Configuration Variant #4
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Study for Planar Configuration Variant #3
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Study for Linear Sequence

Planar Configuration One, 2016
Planar Configuration One, 2016
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Planar Configuration One (#3)
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Planar Configuration One (#3)
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Planar Configuration One (#3)
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Planar Configuration One (#3)
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Planar Configuration One (#3)
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Planar Configuration One (#1)
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Planar Configuration One (#1)
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Planar Configuration One (#1)

Parallel Planar Panels, 2016
Parallel Planar Panels, 2016
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Parallel Planar Panel #1 (grey, black, off-white, gold)
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Parallel Planar Panel #2 (grey, black, off-white, rust)
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Parallel Planar Panel #1 (grey, black, off-white, gold)

Linear Sequence, 2016
Linear Sequence, 2016
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Linear Sequence at Andrea Rosen Gallery
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Linear Sequence at Andrea Rosen Gallery
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Linear Sequence at A-Z West
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Linear Sequence at A-Z West

Planar Partitions, 2015
Planar Partitions, 2015
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Planar Partitions, 2015
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Planar Partitions, 2015
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Planar Partitions, 2015

Parallel Planar Panels, 2015
Parallel Planar Panels, 2015
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Parallel Planar Panel, 2015
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Parallel Planar Panel, 2015
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Parallel Planar Panel, 2015

Flat Field Works #2 and #3, 2015
Flat Field Works #2 and #3, 2015
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Flat Field Works
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Flat Field Works
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Flat Field Works
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Flat Field Works
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Flat Field Works
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Flat Field Works
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Flat Field Works
Flat Field Works #2 and #3, created for the Hortiflora area at the Middelheim Museum in Antwerp, traverses the boundaries between art, and architecture. These works examine the roles and potential of flat “panels”, or “fields” – in reference to the horizontal and vertical panels that comprise the most basic elements of our our domestic and urban environments.

Flat Field Work #1, 2015
Flat Field Work #1, 2015
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Flat Field Work #1
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Flat Field Work #1
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Flat Field Work #1
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Flat Field Work #1
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Flat Field Work #1
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Flat Field Work #1
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Flat Field Work #1
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Flat Field Work #1
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Flat Field Work #1

Bench (after Judd), 2015
Bench (after Judd), 2015
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AZI_Install_Parallel_Planar_Panels_Sprüth_Magers_Berlin_2015_10
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AZI_Install_Parallel_Planar_Panels_Sprüth_Magers_Berlin_2015_12 copy
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AZI_Install_Parallel_Planar_Panels_Sprüth_Magers_Berlin_2015_19 copy
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AZI_Install_Parallel_Planar_Panels_Sprüth_Magers_Berlin_2015_20 copy

A4, Five Whites
A4, Five Whites
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A4, Five Whites, 2015, handwoven wool textile, variants of 15
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A4, Five Whites, 2015, handwoven wool textile, variants of 15
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A4, Five Whites, 2015, handwoven wool textile, variants of 15
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A4, Five Whites, 2015, handwoven wool textile, variants of 15
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A4, Five Whites, 2015, handwoven wool textile, variants of 15

Planar Pavilions, 2014
Planar Pavilions, 2014
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Planar Pavilion for Denver Federal Center
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Planar Pavilion for Denver Federal Center
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Planar Pavilion for Denver Federal Center
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Planar Pavilion for Denver Federal Center
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Planar Pavilion for Denver Federal Center
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Planar Pavilion for Denver Federal Center
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Planar Pavilion for Denver Federal Center
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Planar Pavilion for Denver Federal Center
Planar Pavilions for the Denver Federal Center is a series of ten identical platform stations – each station created out of both vertical and horizontal panels. The stations are installed in an alternating grid across an undulating landscape – each turned a different direction, so they generate different spacial and social relationships between each other.

Planar Pavilion, 2014
Planar Pavilion, 2014
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Planar Pavilion
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Installation view: Physical Matter Reality, Sadie Coles HQ, March 25 - May 31 2014
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Planar Pavilion
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Planar Pavilion
Planar Pavilion is a free-standing architectural structure composed of rectangular planes. Variegated in texture and colour, these surfaces function – like proverbial ‘blank canvases’ – as open-ended and amorphous sites. While interlocking physically, they also slip between myriad associations and resonances. As a three-dimensional matrix, the structure echoes Constructivist sculpture, interior set design and contemporary construction techniques.

Parallel Planar Panels, 2014
Parallel Planar Panels, 2014
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Parallel Planar Panel (black, ochre, off-white)
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Parallel-Planar-Panel-black-red-light-grey
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HQ17-AZ10427S Parallel Planar Panel (black, ochre, dark grey)
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HQ17-AZ10429S Parallel Planar Panel (black, dark grey, light grey, off-white)
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Parallel Planar Panel (black, green, off-white)
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Parallel Planar Panel (black, maroon white, grey)
Parallel Planar Panels evoke manifold types of physical fields: abstract paintings, walls, floors, furnishings – as well as offering metaphors for the multifarious ‘planes’ of human experience. They reflect an enduring interest in the porous boundaries between distinct modes or genres – whether between abstraction and figuration, or the decorative and the functional. Rather than seeking to deconstruct categories and taxonomies, strategy of careful syncretism are honed adopted. The works ultimately reflect contemporary culture’s double-edged attraction to consumable art objects – our simultaneous desire for beautiful objects with which we can intimately engage on a day-to-day level, and, on the other hand, for objects that are charged with the authority of art history and ideology.

Parallel Planar Carpets, 2014
Parallel Planar Carpets, 2014
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Parallel Planar Carpet
Parallel Planar carpets are cross-disciplinary, operating as paintings (when hung on the wall), sculptures (when installed on the floor), and functional objects (when used in the context of everyday life). They teases apart the concept of a ‘picture plane’ by offsetting floor and wall-based pieces, invoking both the verticality of paintings and the horizontality of sculpture.

Hard Carpets, 2014
Hard Carpets, 2014
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Hard Carpet 1
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Hard Carpet 2
The Hard Carpet series consist of sheet metal “carpets” with a nod to Carl Andre, who’s work similarly collapses the space between viewing and experiencing.

Dynamic Essay About the Panel, 2014
Dynamic Essay About the Panel, 2014
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Bench (After Judd), 2014
Bench (After Judd), 2014
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Bench (after Judd) #3
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Bench (after Judd) #3
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Bench (after Judd) #1
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Bench (after Judd) #1
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Bench (after Judd) #2

A-Z Uniform Project, Second Decade
A-Z Uniform Project, Second Decade
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A-Z Uniform Series, 2004-2014
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A-Z Uniform Series, 2004-2014
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A-Z Uniform Series, 2004-2014
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A-Z Uniform Series, 2004-2014
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A-Z Uniform Series, 2004-2014
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A-Z Uniform Series, 2004-2014
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A-Z Uniform Series, 2004-2014
A-Z Uniforms are personal “uniforms” that are made and worn for an entire season. The second decade of this project began in 2004, and includes AZ Fiber Form Uniforms, AZ Personal Panels, Smocks and AZ Single Strand Uniforms. These garments, while both attractive and functional, question our associations of freedom or personal liberation with the market demand for constant variety. The Uniform project proposes that liberation may in fact, also be possible through the creation of a set of personal restrictions or limitations.

Institute of Investigative Living
Institute of Investigative Living
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photo by Andrea Zittel
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photo by Ben Hagari
The Institute of Investigative Living is an intensive eight day MFA seminar, held once a year at A-Z West. The program focuses on the subject of “Life Practice” as the junction of art and life – asking of how one can live a life that is intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant, regardless of the market or other outside factors. Following the moto “learning from what we are not” the program takes participants beyond the range of typical everyday experience as a means through which to reevaluate common assumptions about needs, values and social norms.
Each session hosts ten students who are housed in the Wagon Station Encampment at A-Z West. Group discussions are led by James Trainor (former US editor from Frieze Magazine and a frequent AZ teaching collaborator) – and an itinerary is crafted for each program by Andrea Zittel.

How To Live Billboards, 2013
How To Live Billboards, 2013
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To create structure and order or to live in a fluid state of flux?
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To live alone or together?
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How to live?
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To settle and homestead or to live in the world?
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To acquire possessions or to live free of encumbrances?
The series of billboards titled “How to Live?” depicts domestic settings that embody this question with the everyday. The overarching question of How To Live? is derived from the essays of Michel de Montaigne, who’s life’s writings comprise a massive volume of essays and anecdotes on all the nuances of day-to-day living. Like Montaigne’s essays, these questions evolve in a personal and idiosyncratic manner, often being rewritten, or reevaluated in accordance to time and place.

Study for Cover Series, 2012
Study for Cover Series, 2012
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Study for A-Z Cover Series 2 (Rust and Gold Geometric)
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Study for A-Z Cover Series 2 (Rust and Brown Geometric)
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Study for A-Z Cover Series 2 (Rust and Gold Geometric)
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Study for A-Z Cover Series 2 (Rust and Gold Geometric)
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Study for A-Z Cover Series 2 (Gold and Blue Geometric)
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Study for A-Z Cover Series 2 (Gold and Blue Geometric)

Sleep Sack Configurations, 2012

Lights for A-Z West
Lights for A-Z West
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light for bedroom view 1
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light for bedroom view 2
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lights for living room view 2
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lights for living room view 1
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lights for kitchen
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lights for kitchen context
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lights for bathroom

Covers in Use Gouaches, 2012
Covers in Use Gouaches, 2012
CloseThis series of diaristic gouaches presents the “AZ Covers” in use around AZ West.

Covers in Spaces With Bodies, 2012

A-Z Cover Series 2, 2012

A-Z Cover Series 1, 2012

A-Z Carpet Furniture: Cabin, 2012
A-Z Carpet Furniture: Cabin, 2012
Close“A-Z Carpet Furniture” highlights the slippage between represented space and literal space. It hovers between being a representation of something (it can hang on the wall or lay on the floor) and the actual thing itself, and it is meant to be used just like any furniture. The newest and largest work of the series is “A-Z Carpet Furniture: Cabin,” which creates a functional space which fits exactly into a 12’ x 16’ cabin near A-Z West.

A-Z Billboard Series, 2012
A-Z Billboard Series, 2012
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Prototype for Billboard A-Z Cover Series 1
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Prototype for Billboard at A-Z West

2012 Summer Personal Panels
2012 Summer Personal Panels
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A-Z Personal Panels (Small White and Black Top)
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A-Z Personal Panel (Small Grey and Black Top)
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A-Z Personal Panel (Wide Rust and Black Top)
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A-Z Personal Panel (Wide Grey and Black Top)
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A-Z Personal Panel (White and Black Dress)
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A-Z Personal Panel (Blue and Black Dress)
A-Z Personal Panels are constructed out of rectangles of fabric – based on a Russian Constructivist dictate to not adulterate the “true nature” of the fabric, which is woven in long continuous rectangles. The A-Z Personal Panels were made and worn as part of the ongoing Seasonal Uniform series, begun in 1991 and continuing into the present day. Other garments in this series are the Six Month Uniforms, A-Z Fiber Form Uniforms and A-Z Single Strand Uniforms.

Tellus Interdum

Single Strand Forward Motion
Single Strand Forward Motion
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AZI_Single_Strand_Forward_Motion_mail
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AZI_Single_Strand_Forward_Motion_Det_a_mail
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AZI_Single_Strand_Forward_Motion_c_mail

Pattern of Habit
Pattern of Habit
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AZI_Pattern_of_Habit_17594_2011_e
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AZI_Pattern_of_Habit_17594_2011_c
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AZI_Pattern_of_Habit_17594_2011_d
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AZI_Pattern_of_Habit_17594_2011_Det_a
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AZI_Pattern_of_Habit_17594_2011_Det_b

Lay of My Land, 2011
Lay of My Land, 2011
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Lay of My Land
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Lay of My Land
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Lay of My Land
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Lay of My Land
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Lay of My Land
“Lay of my Land”is a sculpture of the 35 acres that currently compose AZ West. The history of the western expansion is in large part a history of land and real estate. First divided up by the Jeffersonian grid ( a one mile square system meant to facilitate land distribution from Washington DC ) the land in the High Desert was then further divided by the “baby” Homestead Acts which promised 5 acre parcels free to those who would erect a small structure on it. Lay of my Land speaks to this history of division and subdivision by representing the seemingly endless desert as gridded chunks of segregated and conceptually isolated commodities.

Aggregated Stacks, Berlin 2011
Aggregated Stacks, Berlin 2011
CloseMany of the day to day necessities at A-Z West are ordered on-line, each delivered each in its own carefully packed cardboard box. It seems like a a shame to discard out a perfect vehicle – especially if it has special proportions or clearly crisp edges and corners. “Aggregated Stacks” are composed of these boxes, fused into integrated units that reflect a pattern of life through consumption. The end result is that of a fractured grid: we as humans aspire toward the orderly and systematic, however life itself is quite chaotic. The ultimate reality of these two forces is reflected in the dynamic of this imperfect system where patterns and shapes and rhythms fall in and out of order.

Tiles for kitchen at A-Z West, 2010
Tiles for kitchen at A-Z West, 2010
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Tiles for A-Z West
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The tiles designed for the kitchen at AZ West were produced by Arena, Arte Contemporáneo, in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Small Liberties, video 2010
Small Liberties, video 2010
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Interlopers Hiking Club
Interlopers Hiking Club
CloseThe Interlopers HC is a formalization of a loosely knit hiking club that began in the late 1990s as “The Feral Spaniels” in Los Angeles in 1998 for the purpose of pancake hikes in the LA Foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. In the early 2000s the hikes migrated to the high desert around A-Z West, and it was in the isolation of these high hills that our hiking apparel transformed into a combination of utility and fashion, dazzling the tortoises, snakes and other desert creatures. Combining costumes and sport was the perfect antidote to a practice of desert walking… when in costume, we looked as odd as joshua trees and blooming cactus, and our iconoclastic attire brought us closer to the desert’s alien environment.

Clutch, video 2010
Clutch, video 2010
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Aggregated Stacks, A-Z West 2010
Aggregated Stacks, A-Z West 2010
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AZ West June 2010 - Photo by Giovanni Jance 004
Many of the day to day necessities at A-Z West are ordered on-line, each delivered each in its own carefully packed cardboard box. It seems like a a shame to discard out a perfect vehicle – especially if it has special proportions or clearly crisp edges and corners. “Aggregated Stacks” are composed of these boxes, fused into an integrated unit that reflects a pattern of a life through consumption. The end result is that of a fractured grid: we as humans aspire toward the orderly and systematic, however life itself is quite chaotic. The ultimate reality of these two forces is reflected in the dynamic of this imperfect system where patterns and shapes and rhythms fall in and out of order, or flex to accommodate one another.

Walking Patterns, performance 2009
Walking Patterns, performance 2009
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Vertical Accumulators, 2009
Vertical Accumulators, 2009
CloseIt is difficult if not impossible to hang a hook on a wall without placing something on it. These objects become magnates for the detritus of life and living – and therefore they are Energetic Accumulators. Though placed in casual and sometimes random and/or temporary arrangement, the collected objects are organized into a regulated system by the supporting accumulators.

Token Exchange, 2009
Token Exchange, 2009
Close“Token Exchange” explores the role of the gallery as a site of exchange and opens up the activity of exchange in a way that reveals the subjective value that is the true measure of art. The work consists of three series of table- like trays each presenting a corresponding series of simple hand made tokens. One grouping is a series of small round handmade coins or discs made by pressing the artist’s thumb into a piece of black polymer clay, another is a simple crocheted chain that can be hung on the wall or worn as a necklace, and the third is a small abstract felted “pelt” of wool. The audience is invited to take a token in exchange for something that they deem to be of equal value. “Token Exchange” calls into question the assumed intrinsic monetary value of art by touching upon a larger range of values. Ultimatley these tokens are intended to carry some sort of intangible “weight” and to float casually through the world.

Indy Island, 2009
Indy Island, 2009
CloseRead about Inaugural island residents Jessica Dunn and Michael Runge who lived on the structure over the summer of 2010 and who created a project called “Give and Take” http://www.imamuseum.org/island/. Or 2011 resident Katherine Ball whos blog titled “No Swimming” http://www.imamuseum.org/island2011/ details her construction of mycofilters from hemp, wood chips, and mushroom mycelium, which were placed in the lake in an attempt to lower E.coli levels in the water.

House After Ten Years, video 2009
House After Ten Years, video 2009
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Wall Sprawl 2008-2010
Wall Sprawl 2008-2010
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Wall Sprawl
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Wall Sprawl
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Wall Sprawl
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WallSprawl
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Wall Sprawl
The Wall Sprawls are generated from areal of photographs taken of the fringes of urban development as it creeps out into open desert land. Mirrored and repeated the images are tiled to create an overarching pattern that charts the frontiers of urban development. The pattern could be continued infinitely, just as one might imagine that this suburban sprawl continued rapidly progressing even after the photo was taken.

smockshop, 2006 – 2010
smockshop, 2006 – 2010
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smockshop in London
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Friday review
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smockshop in Los Angeles
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smockshop in London
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smockshop in London
Smockshop, an attempt to create a market outside of the art market, was an artist run enterprise that generated income for artists whose work is either non-commercial, or not yet self sustaining. A smock is a simple double wrap around garment designed by Andrea Zittel – and sewn by artists who reinterpreted the original design. As an active testament to Zittel’s principle that “rules make us more creative”, each resulting smock was completely unique and one of a kind.
Smockers include: Tiprin Follet, Kate Hillseth, Donna Huanca, Molly Keogh, Tony Koerner, Peggy Pabustan, Ashira Siegel, V Smiley, Sophie Tusler, Michelle Brunnick, Emily Bult, Sonja Cvitkovic, Jennifer Durban, Karen Gelardi, Hadassa Goldvicht, Carole Frances Lung, Mark Rodriguez, Mariana Saldana, Jason Villegas, Maude Benson and Claire Fong. The smockshop was concluded in 2010.

Energetic Accumulators, 2008

A-Z Mobile Compartment Units, 2008

Prototype for Billboards, 2007

Prototypes for Billboards, 2005

Prints Rules of Raugh

New Raugh Furniture

Sufficient Self, video 2004
Sufficient Self, video 2004
CloseSufficient Self is a diaristic documentation of life at A-Z West, a thirty acre compound that integrates the production, use and viewing of work into a single location. Developed around the notion of an “intimate universe” the video presents a vision of the desert region as well as events and philosophies that inspire new prototypes for living.

Homestead Unit with Raugh Furniture

Food Prep Station A-Z West

Diaristic Gouaches

Sprawl2 LithoEdition
Sprawl2 LithoEdition
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Cellular Compartment Unit for Goetz Collection, 2003

A-Z Wagon Stations, First Generation, 2004
A-Z Wagon Stations, First Generation, 2004
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Aaron Noble
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Andrea Zittel and David Dodge
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Chris James
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Carolyn Castano
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Chris Young and Connie Walsh
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Giovanni Jance
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Guy Green
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Hal McFeeley
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A-Z Wagon Station Customized by Jonas Hauptman

A-Z Wagon Stations at Milwaukee Museum of Art, 2003

A-Z Homestead Office

The Regenerating Field
The Regenerating Field
CloseOne of the ongoing missions at A-Z West has been to come up with new materials and fabrication techniques that cost less, and make more sense in this extreme desert climate. Probably the most plentiful natural resource available out here is garbage – especially paper waste. Product packaging, shipping boxes, newspapers, magazines, mail order catalogs and junk mail all had to be hauled to the dump until I started developing Paper Pulp as a material.
The Paper Pulp Panels are dried in a grid of racks called the “Regenerating Field”. People think that they look like solar panels or modernist sculpture, they are also intended to function a little similar to an agricultural field where one can set out a batch of pulped paper each day, then harvesting it several weeks later when it is dry.

Sprawl1 Litho Edition
Sprawl1 Litho Edition
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sfnwvlei Gouaches

Homesteadat A-Z West

High Desert Test Sites
High Desert Test Sites
CloseHigh Desert Test Sites is a non-profit organization that was founded by Andrea Zittel, Shaun Caley Regen, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Andy Stillpass and John Conelly (and is currently administered by Andrea Zittel and Vanesa Zendejas.) HDTS supports immersive experiences and exchanges between artists, critical thinkers, and general audiences – challenging all to expand their definition of art to take on new areas of relevancy.
As a conceptual entity we are dedicated to “learning from what we are not.” We believe there are many ways to live, and that learning from others can offer new insight and perspectives on ourselves, and the everyday environments we may think we already know well. Our mission is inspired by those visionary individuals who have made their work their life practice – who create intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant work regardless of the market or other outside factors.
HDTS programs include guides to the high desert’s cultural test sites, immersive excursions, solo projects, workshops, publications, and residencies. To learn more about HDTS visit the High Desert Test Sites website
If you would like to stay abreast of HDTS updates, events and projects, sign up for the HDTS mailing list.

Fiber Form Uniforms
Fiber Form Uniforms
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In 2002 Zittel began hand felting wool directly into the shape of shirts, tunics or dresses. Eash resulting Fiber Form Uniform was made as a single piece with no seams. These garments were produced the auspices of A- Z Advanced Technologies – bringing complexity of form together with pre-industrial know-how. A-Z Advanced Technologies comment on progressive designs that hark back to lost primitive ideals.

Fiber Form Gouaches, 2002

Cellular Compartment Comunities

A-Z Paper Pulp Panels

Suburban Sprawl Studies

Single Strand Uniforms
Single Strand Uniforms
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In the A-Z Single Strand Uniforms (1998-2001) Zittel abandoned pre-woven fibers and created clothing directly from a single strand of yarn, which she crocheted into various forms. She chose crochet because it required the least number of implements possible (a single hook) to make a garment.

Single Strand Handmade
Single Strand Handmade
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Eventually Zittel taught herself to crochet only with her fingers and hands. The technique is simple, but it required practice and precision to control the tension correctly. As she gained skill she started to make the patterns less linear and more abstract so that they resembled the webs of uneven netting.

Raugh Desk A-Z West
Raugh Desk A-Z West
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Homestead Unit Gouaches

Everlasting and Complete Gouaches
Everlasting and Complete Gouaches
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A-Z Sorting Trays
A-Z Sorting Trays
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A-Z Homestead Units

A-Z Cellular Compartment Units, 2001
A-Z Cellular Compartment Units, 2001
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A-Z Cellular Compartment Units, 2001
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A-Z Cellular Compartment Units, 2001
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Cellular Compartment Units, 2001
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Cellular Compartment Units, 2001
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A-Z Cellular Compartment Unit Customized by Sammlung Goetz2002stainless steel, plywood, glass, paint and mixed mediasix units, each: 48 x 48 x 96 inches
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A-Z Cellular Compartment Unit Customized by Sammlung Goetz2002stainless steel, plywood, glass, paint and mixed mediasix units, each: 48 x 48 x 96 inches
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A-Z Mobile Compartment Units2000 - 2008Stainless steel, glass, birch plywood, carpet, polyurethane, paint, furnishings, misc. accessories95.67 x 192.91 x 59.84 inches
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A-Z Mobile Compartment Units2000 - 2008Stainless steel, glass, birch plywood, carpet, polyurethane, paint, furnishings, misc. accessories95.67 x 192.91 x 59.84 inches
The A-Z Cellular Compartment Units turn a single standard sized apartment room into a complex of ten interconnected chambers. Each unit is dedicated to the satisfaction of a single human need or desire from sleeping to eating to reading to watching TV.
As a comment on the increasing divisions and compartmentalization’s of time space and function in both our interior living spaces and in our day to day lives, the Cellular Compartment Units function as an exploration into the division of space and function as well as a test dwelling for exploring the bodily experience of living in such a space.

Time Trials

Free Running Rhythms and Patterns

Food Group Prep Unit

A-Z Pocket Property

Time Trials

Point of Interest Drawings

A-Z West
A-Z West
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A-Z West is an artwork located on over seventy acres in the California high desert next to Joshua Tree National Park. Since it’s inception A-Z West has functioned as an evolving testing grounds for living—a place in which spaces, objects, and acts of living all intertwine into a single ongoing investigation into what it means to exist and participate in our culture today. “How to live?” and “What gives life meaning?” are core issues in both Zittel’s personal life and artistic practice. Answering these questions has entailed exploring complex relationships between our need for freedom, security, autonomy, authority, and control—observing how structure and limitations often have the capacity to generate feelings of freedom beyond open-ended choices.
Works and projects at A-Z West include: Zittel’s home/testing grounds, the Wagon Station Encampment, Regenerating Field, shipping container compound, A-Z West studio and weaving studio, A-Z West satellite cabins, the Planar Pavilions, a ten-acre parcel for High Desert Test Sites projects, and several adjacent parcels slated for future projects.
If you would like to visit, A-Z West hosts monthly tours as a fundraiser for High Desert Test Sites—because of our busy studio schedule individual visits are not possible. Specially scheduled tours can sometimes be organized for groups of 12 or more. We also offer week-long stays in the Experimental Living Cabins, a satellite location 40 miles east of Joshua Tree. To find out more about visiting A-Z West, please email azwest@zittel.org.
Please note—because A-Z West is a private residence we ask the public to respect the designated ways to visit. Visitors may not show up on A-Z West grounds unannounced or without an appointment under any circumstance.

A-Z Point of Interest

A-Z Clocks

Raugh Personal Panel
Raugh Personal Panel
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The Personal Panel Uniforms later evolved into the A-Z Raugh Uniform (1998), made of fabric literally torn from a bolt. This reduced the activity of making a garment to a few minute modifications, such as using safety pins to fasten a strap to fabric, or stitching a single strategic seam. While the Raugh garments required no expertise in either conception or construction, it took skill to make designs that look sophisticated and attractive.

Raugh Furniture

Personal Panel Gouaches

Personal Panel Drawings

A-Z Yard Yachts

A-Z Thundering Prairie Dogs

A-Z Deserted Islands

A-Z Carpet Furniture

A-Z Bofa, 1997
A-Z Bofa, 1997
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1997 Bofa, 1997
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A-Z Bofa I and II, 1999
The “Bofa” (a cross between a box and a sofa) was one of the most successful prototypes made for the comfort room at A-Z East.

A-Z Escape Vehicles

A-Z Escape Vehicle Drawings

Travel Trailer Drawings

Personal Panel Uniforms
Personal Panel Uniforms
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The Russian Constructivists created garments created predominantly from geometric shapes. They felt that fabric that is woven into flat rectangles should not be cut and sewn into shapes alien to its origin. Zittel’s Personal Panel Uniforms (1995-98) pushed this principle to it’s most extreme conclusion by creating rectangular garments pinned and tied to fit.

Carpet Furniture 1995
Carpet Furniture 1995
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A-Z Travel Trailers

A-Z Platform Bed
A-Z Platform Bed
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A-Z Pit Bed

A-Z East
A-Z East
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The AZ Enterprise first took root in 1991 in a tiny 200 square foot storefront on South 8th Street in Brooklyn New York. In January of 1994 the project migrated to a small three story row house with a storefront at 150 Wythe Avenue. Wares and prototypes rotated in and out of the space as various experiments evolved, the storefront serving as both a showroom and a test site. In 1996 and 1997 the A- Z Personal Presentation Room opened to the public for Thursday Evening Personal Presentations at A-Z East. These cocktail parties facilitated socialization amongst a Brooklyn community of artists and neighbors and allowed guests to explore the building and witness new prototypes in use. This period also spurred the creation of the A-Z Personal Profiles Newsletter featuring stories about owners and users of A-Z products and prototypes.

A-Z Small Bed

A-Z Ottoman Furniture

A-Z Fleds
A-Z Fleds
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A-Z Comfort Units

A-Z Comfort Unit for the Cincinnati Museum
A-Z Comfort Unit for the Cincinnati Museum
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A-Z Clocks, 1994

A-Z 1994 Living Units

Carpet Furniture 1993

A-Z Warm and Cool Chambers
A-Z Warm and Cool Chambers
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A-Z Privacy Panel
A-Z Privacy Panel
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A-Z Food Group
A-Z Food Group
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A-Z Dishless Dining Table
A-Z Dishless Dining Table
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A-Z Designated Dining Table
A-Z Designated Dining Table
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A-Z Cover Series, 1993

A-Z Container
A-Z Container
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The A-Z Container is a single shape that serves many different containing needs, for example both drinking and eating. The original prototype was spun out of copper and then chromed. A subsequent design produced for actual use at The A-Z was spun out of copper and silver-plated. The final version of A-Z Container now in use is actually an appropriated commercially made glass bowl – a fact that self-reflexivity comments on the nature of the experimental fabrication process.

A-Z Cleansing Chamber
A-Z Cleansing Chamber
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A-Z Chamberpot

A-Z Breeding Unit for Reassigning Flight

A-Z Breeding Unit for Averaging Eight Breeds, 1993
A-Z Breeding Unit for Averaging Eight Breeds, 1993
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A-Z Breeding Unit for Averaging Eight Breeds, 1993
The A-Z Breeding Unit for Averaging Eight Breeds was an experimental housing unit for chickens controlling the reproduction of its inhabitants. The Unit was built as an experiment to reduce eight domestically created breeds back to a single bird with more original traits. Successive crossbreeding demonstrated that the unique traits were recessive, vanishing as a more “average” chicken was achieved – raising issues of control, organization, and notions of progress and creativity.

A-Z Body Processing Unit, 1993
A-Z Body Processing Unit, 1993
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A-Z Body Processing Unit, 1993
When thinking about the necessities of bodily function, the focus is primarily on the kitchen and the bathroom. These two rooms feature many of the same fixtures but attend to opposite aspects of the same process. The Body Processing Unit integrates these functions into a single integrated system. The intake functions are on the top, and the outtake functions are on the bottom. It provides security by making sure that the body of the owner/user is attended to, and is portable enough to travel to any situation necessary.

Developmental Models

Carpet Furniture Gouaches

A-Z Management Maintenance

Six Month Uniforms
Six Month Uniforms
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Zittel began creating Six Month Uniforms in 1991 as a response to the social dictate to wear an entirely different change of clothes every day. By wearing a single uniform for six months, she no only eliminated the stress of choosing a daily outfit , but also generated an alternative to the mandate of perpetual variety mandated consumer culture. More then seventy variations of the A-Z Personal Uniform now exist.
The first A-Z Six Month Personal Uniforms were cut and sewn. They ranged from basic wool dresses to silk adorned tulle and wool petticoats. For her job in an art gallery and the working the studio, the artist needed an attractive yet flexible uniform (1992); for her work maintaining a chicken coop and other more strenuous daily activites, the uniform design added pants (1993).

Repair Works

Quail Breeding Unit

Bantam Breeding

A-Z Single Egg Incubator
A-Z Single Egg Incubator
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Wallens
