En Route to the Centenary
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
En Route to the Centenary Craft becomes Modern. The Bauhaus in the Making. Bauhaus Dessau Foundation: 13 April 2017 – 7 January 2018 Paths from the Bauhaus. Gerhard Marcks and his Circle of Friends. Klassik Stiftung Weimar: 17 August 2017 – 5 November 2017 New Bauhaus Chicago: Exp eriment Photograp hy . Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin: 15 November 2017 – 5 March 2018 With this association, the German Federal Govern- “Let us then create a ment – represented by the Federal Government Commissioner new guild of craftsmen without for Culture and the Media and the Federal Cultural Founda- tion – together with the federal states of Baden-Württem- the class distinctions that raise an berg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine- Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and arrogant barrier between crafts- Thuringia, as well as the Bauhaus institutions in Berlin, Dessau and Weimar that maintain collections, have joined forces to man and artist! Together let us ensure that the celebration of the founding of the Bauhaus desire, conceive, and create the 100 years ago will be a cultural highlight with international resonance. new structure of the future.” Two years before the great centenary, the Bau- haus Dessau Foundation, the Klassik Stiftung Weimar and the Walter Gropius Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung in Berlin are staging three Bauhaus exhibitions that serve as a prologue en route to the big 100. The topics of these exhibitions are the charac- teristic field of conflict between craft and industrial produc- tion at the Bauhaus institutions in Weimar and Dessau, and the continued influence of Bauhaus teachings, as exemplified by photography at the New Bauhaus in Chicago. With its universal means, the Bauhaus is seen worldwide as standing for collective, interdisciplinary design, for the unconditional search for utopias, opportunities and inspirations. The Bauhausler were concerned with nothing less than the success of living together in a rapidly changing world, a concern that is as relevant today as it was 100 years ago. Weimar 1919. The architect Walter Gropius foun- ded the Staatliches Bauhaus, a school of design that would become the symbol of modernism in Germany. For fourteen years – at first in Weimar, as of 1925 in Dessau, and from 1932 until its closure in 1933 in Berlin – it brought together masters of the avant-garde and students, artists, and craftsmen in order to enable them to collectively design the world of tomorrow. In 2019, Germany celebrates 100 years of Bau- haus. The centenary year is being organized and supported by the strong community of the Bauhaus Association 2019. international exhibition project called “Migrant 100 y ears of bauhaus. Bauhaus” will begin in 2018 on five continents. The results of this search of traces will then be seen at the big 2019 finale in Berlin. In conversation with As a glance at the map shows, modernism is a Monika Grütters movement that touches all of Ger- many. What cooperation partners are joining to celebrate the Bauhaus centenary? In additional to my institution and the German What goal does the Federal Government Com- Federal Cultural Foundation, ten federal states missioner for Culture and the Media have been named as members of the “Bauhaus Association 2019”. Its head office in Weimar coor have for the Bauhaus centenary? dinates the centenary activities. The three major The Bauhaus is still the world’s most influential Bauhaus institutions – the BauhausArchiv Berlin, educational institution for architecture, art and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and the Klassik design in the 20th century. It was always a place Stiftung Weimar – are very important for the cen for experiments, for new ideas, forms and mate tenary. But the centenary year 2019 will be cele rials, although the artists and creatives gathered brated all over Germany: in the north, for example, there were not solely interested in a new philoso at the Chilehaus in Hamburg; in the south at the Monika Grütters phy of building, but in far broader terms, in holistic Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart; in the east in is the Federal concepts for a better world. The Bauhaus centen the Schminke House in Löbau and in the west at Government Commissioner for ary in 2019 offers the opportunity to raise enthu the Völklingen Ironworks. Additional partners in Culture and the siasm among the largest possible number of people Germany and abroad are very welcome! Media (BKM) and for this exciting part of our cultural heritage, and coordinates When it comes to the Bauhaus, many think of the activities of the to direct the world’s attention to this very signifi German Federal a “style”. In reality, the Bauhausler Government cant art school of modernism. in the preparations were united more by a certain atti- for the Bauhaus The financial support for 100 years of bauhaus centenary. The tude. How would you describe this? Federal Government dates back to a 2015 decision of the has contributed If I were to put it into one sentence, I would say: € 52 million for new German Bundestag. What has hap- museum buildings The world is changeable – and we can improve it in Berlin, Dessau pened since then – and what steps in such a way that this can be felt in the daily life and Weimar. The German Federal are planned for the coming years? of every person. In other words, and here I agree Cultural Founda The preparations for the Bauhaus centenary with you entirely, it was about much more than tion, which draws the alliance of architecture with other arts to its funds from are already underway at top speed. Within the the BKM’s budget, form a Gesamtkunstwerk [total work of art]. is assuming the Federal Government, I am responsible for this, financing of the together with our Federal Cultural Foundation. What role does this attitude play in your work as applicationbased After establishing the organizational basis, an fund and the Federal Government Commissioner Bauhaus Agents, exciting and multifaceted programme with nu as well as the for Culture and the Media? cofinancing of merous exhibitions, events and projects will be the centenary developed. The centenary year will begin with I continue to be fascinated by the vast holistic phi programme of the Bauhaus Associ an opening festival. Along with Dessau and Wei losophy associated with the Bauhaus. Because ation 2019, with mar, the Bauhaus buildings in Berlin will play a the question really is, after all, the same now as a total of € 16.5 million. central role. This year’s exhibitions at the three it was then: What can I accomplish? And what Bauhaus sites already offer a preview of the remains in the end? centenary year. Over the next few years, three Madam Commissioner, thank you for your time. new museum buildings will be built to house and present each of the exceptional Bauhaus collections in a contemporary manner. I am very confident that they will become new cultural centres and popular attractions. In addition, an Hamburg Oldenburg Bremen Bernau Neuenhagen Berlin Hanover Brandenburg/Havel Caputh Potsdam Magdeburg Alfeld Gütersloh Goslar Cottbus Dessau Ahlen Quedlinburg Elbingerode Bottrop Bochum Essen Halle Iserlohn Krefeld Leipzig Niesky Leuna Zwenkau Löbau Buchenwald Dornburg Cologne Weimar Erfurt Gelmeroda Jena Aachen Arnstadt Chemnitz Frankfurt Probstzella Wiesbaden Nuremberg Mannheim Völklingen Stuttgart Ulm Bauhaus institutions that maintain collections Modernist UNESCO World Heritage Sites Additional sites of modernism Complete information about the sites of modernism is available at: ↗ bauhaus100.de Dessau Architect The move to Dessau enabled Walter Gropius to give Bauhaus Building Walter Gropius an exemplary form to his Hochschule für Gestal The UNESCO World Heritage Sites Masters’ Houses Built 1925–1926 UNESCO 1996 tung (School of Design). Academic research on the of the Bauhaus Bauhaus has been taking place here since 1976. and Modernism Berlin Architects The Weimar Republic laid the foundations for so Berlin Modernism Bruno Taut Housing Estates Martin Wagner cial housing construction in Germany. In this con UNESCO 2008 Built 1925–1933 text, many of the architects of Neues Bauen built icons of modern urban planning. ↘ On 9 July 2017 Völklingen Various architects The Völklingen Ironworks is the world’s only iron the UNESCO Völklingen Built 1883–1976 decides on whether Ironworks works to survive intact from the golden age of in to expand the UNESCO 1994 dustrialisation. Highlights include the large blasting World Heritage Site of the Bauhaus hall, the ironworks park and the charging platform. to include the Laubenganghäuser Alfeld Architects (Houses with This early example of architectural modernism Fagus Factory Walter Gropius Balcony Access) in UNESCO 2011 Adolf Meyer marked Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius’s pro DessauRoßlau Built in 1911 and the ADGB fessional breakthrough. Today the factory still pro Trade Union School duces shoe lasts, just as it did 100 years ago. Stuttgart Architects The Weissenhof housing estate musters works by in Bernau. Le Corbusier House Le Corbusier UNESCO 2016 Pierre Jeanneret renowned architects including Le Corbusier and Built in 1927 Hans Scharoun in a compact area. It’s constructi on was overseen by Mies van der Rohe. Essen Architects The coal mining site opened by the Gelsenkirche Zollverein Coal Mine Fritz Schupp Industrial Complex Martin Kemmer ner BergwerksAG was long considered the wor UNESCO 2001 Built 1930–1932 ld’s most modern and aesthetically pleasing coal mine. It soon came to influence the design of other central conveying systems. Hamburg Architect This icon of clinker expressionism is one of the first Chilehaus Fritz Höger Goslar Architects office building Built 1922–1924 highrises to be constructed in Hamburg. Its name The hillside processing plant and Rammelsberg Mines of Fritz Schupp and UNESCO 2015 alludes to the building’s owner, Henry B.