Andrea Zittel

Her installations, wearables and sculptures transform the necessities of daily living, such as eating, socializing, sleeping and bathing, "into artful experiments and scenarios for new ways of living.”[2] Born in Escondido, California, in 1965, Zittel graduated from San Pasqual High School in 1983.

In the early 1990s, Zittel began making art in response to her own surroundings and daily routines, creating functional objects relating to shelter, furniture, and clothing "in an ongoing endeavor to better understand human nature and the social construction of needs.

"What I'm interested in," Zittel said, "is that each person examines his own goals, talents and options, and then based on these begins to invent new models or roles to fulfill his or her needs.

[7] Like the uniforms, many of Zittel's projects embody and establish a set of strict rules for living; however, she suggests that these systems can instead allow for more freedom and creativity.

"[4] While some of her modernist-inspired products were designed with the intention of streamlining daily routines, others, such as Zittel's "Escape Vehicles" (1996), appeal to fantasies of isolating oneself from the outside world.

"[14] In 2000, Zittel relocated her home and studio from Brooklyn, NY to a parcel of land in the California desert near to Joshua Tree National Park.

[16] There she continues to develop her life project, "A-Z West", a testing grounds for her work and ideas, and site whose environment, structure and elements shape an intentional context for experience.

[17] Continuing an investigation of limited infrastructures, scattered throughout the A-Z West grounds are twelve "Wagon Stations," portable one-person shelters that accommodate residents each spring and fall.

"Point of Interest", her first public project, located at the southeast entrance to the park, comprised two giant, faux rocks—constructed from steel armatures covered in concrete—emerging from the ground.

[19] That same year, Zittel created "A-Z Pocket Property," a 44-ton floating concrete island anchored off the coast of Denmark, which was commissioned by the Danish government.

[23] From 2006 to 2010, Zittel co-organized the A-Z smockshop in Los Angeles, "an artist-run enterprise that generated income for artists whose work is either non-commercial, or not yet self-sustaining."