Photo courtesy David Reinfurt
David Reinfurt, lecturer in the Program in Visual Arts in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, has been awarded a 2016 Rome Prize Fellowship, given to scholars in the arts and humanities for the creation of independent work while living for a period of six months to two years at the American Academy in Rome. Reinfurt, one of 31 recipients of the Rome Prize, has been awarded the Mark Hampton Rome Prize to work on the project Design as Art: Bruno Munari and Adriano Olivetti.
Rome Prize winners are selected annually through a national competition by independent juries of distinguished scholars and artists in one of the 11 disciplines supported by the Academy, including: Literature, Music Composition, Visual Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Design, and Historic Preservation and Conservation, as well as Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern, and Modern Italian Studies. This year, almost 900 applications were received from 46 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
“The interdisciplinary mix of the Rome Prize winners represents the leading edge of contemporary American scholarship and creativity,” said Academy President Mark Robbins at the recent award ceremony. “Each Fellow is enriched by their experience in Rome and when they return, their work has a profound impact on the cultural life of the U.S. and beyond for decades to come.”
Reinfurt began teaching at Princeton University in 2010. An independent graphic designer and writer in New York City, he graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1993 and received an M.F.A. from Yale University in 1999. Reinfurt worked as an interaction designer with IDEO (San Francisco) from 1995-1997. At IDEO, he was the lead designer for the New York City MTA Metrocard vending machine interface, still in use by millions of people every day 13 years later. On the first business day of 2000, Reinfurt formed O-R-G inc., a flexible graphic design practice composed of a constantly shifting network of collaborators. He was selected as the 2010 United States Artists Rockefeller Fellow in Architecture and Design. Before coming to Princeton, Reinfurt held teaching positions at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Rhode Island School of Design; and Yale University School of Art. Upon arrival at Princeton, he worked to re-establish the typography studio and introduce the study of graphic design as a practical and theoretical starting point for students from all corners of the University, as well as visual artists. He has exhibited widely and his work is included in the permanent collections of the Walker Art Center, Whitney Museum of American Art, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Read the full list of 2016-17 Rome Prize winners and Italian Fellows.
