Alex Coles


Alex Coles is an art and design critic and editor. DesignArt, his first book, triggered a debate about limited edition design, principally in the art and design market. As a follow-up, Coles edited the anthology Design and Art, which argued for a deeper understanding of the interface between art and design.
Coles' most recent book The Transdisciplinary Studio Vol. 1, is a study of studio models of artists, product designers, and graphic designers. To write the book, Coles spent a sustained period of time in each studio conducting ethnographic-styled embedded research. He is currently researching Vol. 2, due for release in 2013.
In the autumn of 2012 Coles launched a new series of edited books through Sternberg Press titled EP.

Publications

Edited anthologies include:
The Anxiety of Interdisciplinarity, Mark Dion: Archaeology, The Optic of Walter Benjamin, Site-Specificity: The Ethnographic Turn and Design and Art.
Recent catalogue essays include: "Kiss the Frog! The Art of Transformation", "Anton Henning", "Project VITRA", "Jorge Pardo", "Martin Creed: Down Over Up", "Donald Judd: A Good Chair is a Good Chair", "Konstantin Grcic" and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

Public Lectures and Conferences

Recent conferences organized include: "What is DesignArt?", "The Greater ‘60s", "Dialogues in DesignArt" and a forthcoming debate on "The Transdisciplinary Studio".
Recent conferences, seminars and debates participated in include: "The DesignArt Debate", "Dan Flavin: Switched On", "Ellsworth Kelly" "M/M: Critical Forum", "Jorge Pardo: Critical Forum", "Konstantin Grcic: Design Real", "Felix Beltran: Critical Forum", "Design = Art?", "Jorge Pardo: Roundtable Debate", "Art and Design: Friends or Foes?", and "Ronald Jones: Critical Forum".

Academic Posts

In November 2011, Coles was appointed Professor of Transdisciplinary Studies, School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Huddersfield.
Previously, Coles had been a lecturer at Goldsmiths College in the Department of Art History, senior lecturer in Fine Art at University College for the Creative Arts, and chair of Fine Arts, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles. During the academic year of 2010/2011, he lectured on the Critical Forum at the Royal College of Art, the MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design, and the MA in Experience Design at Konstfack, Stockholm.