Stamps Directory
Nick Tobier

Professor, School of Art & Design
Senior Counsel to the Provost on Civic Engagement
Contact
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Office: 2083 AA
Phone: (734) 936-0697
Personal Website
Curriculum Vitae
M.F.A., The Milton Avery Graduate Center at Bard College, 1997
Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, 1997 - 1999
B.A. (History and Art), Swarthmore College, 1989
Biography
Prior to his appointment at the School of Art & Design in 2003, Tobier spent four years as assistant professor at the School of Art at Alfred. From 1996 to 1998, he studied landscape architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and subsequently worked in professional practice at Landworks Studio/Boston and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation/ Bronx Division as a designer. He served as project manager for Storefront for Art and Architecture, writing critical essays, facilitating public projects and coordinating international competitions as he conducted broad-thinking explorations of architecture and urban space beyond expected function.
A native New Yorker, Nick Tobier is a participant-observer of street life and the social life of public places. These inherently layered scenarios are at the core of his work, and Tobier’s practice and pedagogy reflect his belief in the power of social dynamism and the fundamental role of the artist/designer as catalyst and conduit in this relationship.
Through individual and collective work, Tobier’s interest in the potential of public places has manifested itself in built public projects and actions in San Francisco, Detroit and New York, internationally from Toronto to Tokyo, Brussels to Medellin, in exhibitions at MOMA, The Smithsonian, The Queens Museum Kunsthalle Nikolaj/Copenhagen, at The Edinburgh, Minneapolis and Philadelphia Fringe Festivals and, upcoming at the Prague Quadrennial (2019 with Roland Graf). Project sites include bus stops, flea markets, Laundromats and car washes, and include the entrepreneurial design ventures, F.O.O.D. (Field of Our Dreams), Brightmoor Bikes and the Brightmoor Maker Space. He is also the author of a series of critical and speculative writings on design, and city space, including, with Juliane Stiegele, the forthcoming Utopia Toolbox (2016) and Looping Detroit, 2017.
In his current research and teaching, Tobier focuses on collaborative projects in the public realm. These efforts have included partnerships with furniture designers, bakers, farmers; critical and celebratory involvements between artists, designers and broad communities; and a commitment to lasting partnerships working with creative individuals and communities from Detroit to Ishinomaki.
Gallery
Click thumbnails to view full size.
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Brightmoor Runway (Before)
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Brightmoor Runway
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Brightmoor Runway
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Brightmoor Runway
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Brightmoor Runway
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Moving Plants
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Grand River
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Marvelous Guests: Laundromat
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Marvelous Guests: Weights and Measures
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Crosswalk for Snails (with Juliane Stiegele)
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Utopia Toolbox (with Juliane Stiegele)
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Streetcar
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Streetcar
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Marches for Cars and Passers-By
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Marches for Cars and Passers-By
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Marches for Cars and Passers-By
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Mascot for the Revolution
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22 Fillmore
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Small Cascade for a Large City
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Three Wheeling with Chandelier
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Three Wheeling with Chandelier
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My/Our Way
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Shade Cycle
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Shade Cycle
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F.O.O.D. (Field of Our Dreams)
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F.O.O.D. (Field of Our Dreams)
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Hot Chocolate
In the News
- Nick Tobier and Davarian Baldwin: March 30 “At Home with Literati” Event
- The Crazy Pineapple: an Essay on Power (and Pineapples) by Nick Tobier
- Eloise Janssen: Union Hall Exhibition
- Nick Tobier published in “What is Small Architecture”
- Networking During the Pandemic: Stamps Students + Virtual Artist Visits
- Creative Adaptations: Exhibiting During the Pandemic
- Nick Tobier Curates Work by Yvette Rock, Detroit Artists
- Distance, Communication, and Design for One
- Nick Tobier’s work is part of Future Ready at The Anchorage Museum
- Nick Tobier’s Parking Lot Theater published in Imaginary Theatres
- The Innovation Station: Nick Tobier speaks on State Department sponsored panel
- Nick Tobier and Emilia White Bring Relics to Life in Chicago
- Nick Tobier and Brightmoor Maker Space Featured for “This is Michigan”
- Red Crossing by Graf, Low, and Tobier at Winnipeg Design Festival
- Nick Tobier, Deepa Butoliya Present at Include Conference
- A Beacon to Connect: Red Crossing Premieres in Prague
- Dream It, Build It, Do It: The Brightmoor Maker Space Celebrates Inaugural Year
- Bookmarks Exhibition Featured in Pulp
- Nick Tobier Profiled by Michigan News
- Nick Tobier Featured in Metropolitan Universities
- Nicholas Tobier on U-M Detroit Advisory Group
- Change by Design: The Birds of Ann Arbor
- Nick Tobier presents DeCentering the Academy in Barcelona
- Nick Tobier Delivers Keynote at New Commons Project
- Nick Tobier: The Secret World of Dogs in India
- Nick Tobier: No One Knows Published in India
- Nick Tobier Featured in MOMA Exhibition
- Nick Tobier: The Illuminator’s State of Emergency
- Red Dot Communication Design Award goes to Utopia Toolbox, by Nick Tobier & Juliane Stiegele
- Stamps Faculty Collaboration LitKNIT Gateways Shortlisted, Featured