Dr. Robert Pietrusko

Biography

Robert Gerard Pietrusko is an Associate Professor at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, where his research and practice center around history, speculative design, and potential environmental media. His design work is conducted through a studio that is part of the permanent collection at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris and has been exhibited in more than 15 countries. Notable venues include the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Palais de Tokyo, and ZKM Center for Art & Media. He has released sound art recordings through renowned experimental labels such as ROOM40 and LINE. Currently, he is working on a book titled "High Contrast: False Color Landscapes of the Cold War," which is set to be developed by the University of Texas Press. Pietrusko is a recipient of the 2021 Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture and the 2019 Wilder Green Architecture Fellowship at MacDowell. His fellowships include ZKM (2011), EMPAC (2011), and UPIC/CCMIX (2000). Before joining the faculty at Penn, Pietrusko held assistant and associate professorships in architecture and landscape architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and held research positions at the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping and Columbia University’s Spatial Information Design Lab. He also served as a visiting faculty member at the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture, and Design in Moscow.

Research Interests