bauhaus wallpaper – rolled out again

Developed in 1929, based on an initiative led by Tapetenfabrik Gebr. Rasch & Co., together with students and teachers of bauhaus in Dessau, the bauhaus wallpaper became a lasting success.

Developed in 1929, and based on an initiative led by the Hannoverschen Tapetenfabrik Gebr. Rasch & Co. (one of the leading wallpaper manufacturers in Germany) together with students and teachers of Bauhaus in Dessau, the Bauhaus wallpaper, produced in Bramsche by Osnabrück and a product of the bauhaus era, became a lasting success. The exhibition in the Osnabrück Museum Quarter covers topics including the history of the project, the advertising campaign, the latest edition of the bauhaus wallpaper and modern residential utopia. The aim is to provide a contemporary insight into a special Bauhaus product on the theme of everyday life, whereby the contradictions present in the icon history of bauhaus are to be shown alongside its utopias and ideas for collective, interdisciplinary design.

The exhibition clearly presents the bauhaus wallpaper project as a work in which various actors from different disciplines including art, culture, science, crafts, industry and business have successfully cooperated, despite having interests that at first may have seemed contradictory. This idea of cooperation is also reflected in the exhibition: it has been created working closely with students and teachers from the Institute of Art History at Osnabrück University as well as with the Rasch Wallpaper Factory in Bramsche and contemporary artists. Local residents from Osnabrück were also involved.

Visitors can expect to encounter a series of different rooms during the tour, with one area being dedicated to the history of the bauhaus wallpaper, the actors involved in the project and the comprehensive advertising campaign. Later on in the museum, you experience a living room from the 1930s filled with bauhaus products. In contrast, visitors also come across a visionary room installation in which wall design becomes more experimental. There is also a room where participation is very much encouraged - a place brought to life by the students of the Institute of Art History at Osnabrück University. This space deals with the question of the extent to which the bauhaus can be (re)designed to relate to our modern living spaces and everyday life. What’s more, the local residents of Osnabrück are called upon to contribute possessions of which they either know or suspect may be related to bauhaus under the motto “What’s gathering dust in grandma’s cellar”. Working together, the objects and the individual stories behind them are prepared for show.

The exhibition is also set to be accompanied by a scientific catalogue and a comprehensive programme of lectures, events and other sources of information.