Michael-Franz Jakob

Michael Jakob teaches theory and history of landscape at hepia (Geneva), the Politecnico in Milan and at the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio. He is at the same time chair of comparative literature at the university Grenoble Alpes. At HEAD his courses deal, among other topics, with the aesthetics of design and the theory of nature.

He is the founder and editor of the international journal COMPAR(A)ISON and of the «di monte in monte» book series published by Tarara’ in Verbania. These are some of his most recent publications: Mirei Shigemori e il nuovo linguaggio del giardino giapponese, Tarara’, Verbania, 2012; the swiss touch in landscape architecture, Tarara’, Verbania, 2013/ Ifengspace, Tianjing, 2015; Retour à Ermenonville, Tarara’, Verbania, 2014 ; Le pouvoir du banc, Macula, Paris 2014/ Einaudi, Turin 2014 / Abada, Madrid 2016/ Oro Editions, San Francisco 2017 ; Cette ville qui nous regarde, b2 éditions, Paris 2015/ Lettera 22, Siracusa 2017 ; Des jardins & des livres, MētisPresses, Geneva 2018 ; What is Landscape?, LISt Lab, Trento 2018 ; Prises de vue. Un paradigme pour l’observation du paysage, MētisPresses, Geneva 2019 ; Paysage et technologie, b2 éditions, Paris 2019 ; L’architettura del paesaggio, USI/ Silvana Editore, Milan 2020.

He has curated for Pro Helvetia the worldwide exhibition « the swiss touch in landscape architecture ». Other exhibitions curated by him are: « Immaginare il giardino » (Verbania, Museo del Paesaggio), « Des jardins & des livres » (Fondation Martin Bodmer, Geneva) and « Into the Mountains » (GSD, Harvard University). He is working on an exhibition on Dante at the Bodmer Foundation in 2021 and on herbals and early botanical publications for the Morgan Library in New York (2022).

Lecturer