PRESS RELEASE
SOUTH KOREA November 25th, 2014 Media Contact: Syd Yi Total pages: 7(included this page) Tel. +82-2-2188-6232 e-mail. [email protected]
Human, Space, Machine - Stage Experiments at the Bauhaus
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 313 Gwangmyeong-ro Gwacheon-si Gyeonggi-do 427-701 South Korea PRESS RELEASE
◇ A 3- year collaborative project with Bauhaus Dessau Foundation since 2012 - Displaying materials related to various stage experimental art and performance, dating back from the founding of Bauhaus in 1919 to its closure in 1933 - Also exhibiting works by 6 Korean contemporary artists whose works have been both directly and indirectly influenced by Bauhaus ◇ Held at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, from Wednesday, Nov 12th, 2014 to Friday, Feb 27th, 2015
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (acting director Nam-sun Yoon) is pleased to announce Human, Space, Machine- Stage Experiments at the Bauhaus, co-organized with Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Germany (Director Dr. Claudia Perren), from November 12th, 2014 to February 22nd, 2015 at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul.
Human, Space, Machine – Stage Experiments at the Bauhaus opened at the Dessau Bauhaus in Germany in December 2013, and was shown at the Henie Onstad Art Center in Norway in May 2014 before being presented in MMCA Seoul this November.
While Bauhaus is considered a major art movement of 20th Century, it’s mainly regarded in Korea as a school which affected the architecture and design field. MMCA co-organized this exhibition with Bauhaus Dessau Foundation since 2012, in order to examine the Bauhaus thought on the human mind and body.
Founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, Bauhaus (1919-1933) as an art & design educational institution had a great influence on the development of the 20th century art, architecture, textile, graphic, industrial design and typography. It aimed to unite all forms of art ultimately expressed through architecture, and operated to foster new artists who could bring about social changes. The experimentation and educational approach of the members of Bauhaus wasn’t confined to just advancement of individual creativity and ability, but aimed at total art through workshops and educational programs in which all members of Bauhaus could participate. Particularly, they mainly dealt with the dynamic role of the stage as a harmonious site for human, space and machine. For this, their study about ‘total theater’ as a primary site for experimentation preceded since the onset of Bauhaus. The nature of stage experimentation in Bauhaus is summarized in Johannes Itten’s statement: “Play becomes joy, joy becomes work, work becomes play.”
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 313 Gwangmyeong-ro Gwacheon-si Gyeonggi-do 427-701 South Korea PRESS RELEASE
Human, Space, Machine – Stage Experiments at the Bauhaus is organized into seven sections: section one ‘Body of Harmonization’, section two ‘Atmospherical Devices’, section three ‘Constructivist Figuration’, section four ‘Eccentric stage mechanisms’, section five ‘Sculptural choreographies’, section six ‘Total theaters’, and section seven ‘Programmed collectives’. The exhibition, which shows Bauhaus as an arena of creative and experimental ideas, also shows how Bauhaus influenced Korean contemporary art through displaying works by 6 Korean artists including Young-na Kim, Nam-june
Paik, Sang-soo Ahn + Paju Typography Institute (PaTI)., Jae-woo Oh, So-hee Cho and Kyoung-woo Han. Works by these artists demonstrate that Bauhaus was not only a particular trend which affected a specific period in time, but that it demonstrates the artist’s innate creativity.
The exhibition-related program on November 12th 2014 will consist of a performance and symposium on Bauhaus. Lecturers include Torsten Blume, the curator of Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Germany, and Sang-soo Ahn, the director of Paju Typography Institute, also a participating artist in the exhibition.
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 313 Gwangmyeong-ro Gwacheon-si Gyeonggi-do 427-701 South Korea PRESS RELEASE
【Encl 1】 Major works
Charlotte Rudolph, Gret Palucca with Twin Shadows, 1925, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Color-Light-Plays, 1923, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 313 Gwangmyeong-ro Gwacheon-si Gyeonggi-do 427-701 South Korea PRESS RELEASE
Lothar Schreyer, Earth Body-Mask for the Stage Play Mann, 1920, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
Joost Schmidt, Mechanical Stage, Relative Position of the Levels, 1925, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 313 Gwangmyeong-ro Gwacheon-si Gyeonggi-do 427-701 South Korea PRESS RELEASE
Oskar Schlemmer, Space Dance, “Movement towards the Centre”, 1927-28, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
Walter Gropius, Total Theatre (project for Erwin Piscator), 1926-27, Theatre Collection, University of Cologne
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 313 Gwangmyeong-ro Gwacheon-si Gyeonggi-do 427-701 South Korea PRESS RELEASE
Louis Held, Bauhaus party at the Ilmschlösschen in Oberweimar with Oskar and Tut Schlemmer Weimar on 29 November 1924, 1924, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea 313 Gwangmyeong-ro Gwacheon-si Gyeonggi-do 427-701 South Korea