Freedom – art – community
Bauhaus ideas as questions of the present day
When?
14.11.2019 - 15.11.2019
What?
Symposium / Conference / Meeting
A conference with contributions by Ulrike Bestgen, Friedrich von Borries, Naika Foroutan, Nina Horaczek, Skadi Jennicke, Olaf Lauströer, Hans-Georg Lippert, Sylvia Lemke, Thomas Locher, Steven Schäller, Louis Volkmann, Helmut Willke, Andreas Zick.
The Bauhaus movement, which centred around Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, has long since acquired its own mythos. By mid-November 2019, when numerous museums, galleries, libraries, theatres and art galleries in Germany will have addressed its history and heritage both admiringly and critically during the course of hundreds of events, almost all the “songs will have been sung”. Dozens of new publications and numerous radio, film and TV contributions have educated the public on almost all facets of Bauhaus (hi)story. These documentaries of the famous art school and its protagonists are dominated by a perspective drawn from aesthetics, art, media and architectural history.
However, during this anniversary year, less attention has been paid to the fact that early Bauhaus was born after the war and did not become reality until after the November Revolution in 1918, since it was in many respects highly politically charged and its opponents mostly attacked it with political arguments.
The Bauhaus “brand”, the “label” for all that is “modern” and that appeared to be “square, practical and good”, belittled the ideal of an artistic practice that – in terms of aspiration – would turn the world upside down, instead transforming it into no more than a fancy for something “different”. This eroded one of the core intentions of the historic art school and the institutions that succeeded it, i.e. to radically develop the freedom and individuality of artists and art students so that they could ultimately find their way to a “new sense of community”.
The final event organised by the Free State of Saxony for Bauhaus Year 2019 aims to take a closer look at the radical, socially utopian impetus of Bauhaus and pit it against present-day issues in order to provide an antidote to the predominantly formal, aesthetic celebration of Bauhaus on its 100th anniversary. A dialogue between disciplines and generations will decide whether Bauhaus and certain of its ideas are no more than parts of our cultural heritage or whether they are (or could be) part of a modern, individual social “identity”.
A detailed programme of the conference will be published here soon.
Information and Contact
Booking: Prior booking is not required.
Costs: Free admission
Duration: Thursday, 14 November 10:00–20:00 // Friday, 15 November, 9:30–13:00
Venue: Lecture hall, second floor, German National Library, Deutscher Platz 1, 04103 Leipzig
Meeting point: Entry through the German National Library’s new building on Deutscher Platz
Accessibility: The area in which the conference will be taking place is barrier-free.
Contact: dbsm-info@dnb.de
Adress and getting here
German National Library
Deutscher Platz 1
04103 Leipzig
Address
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek LeipzigDeutscher Platz 1
04103 Leipzig, Germany
Directions by car
Schkeuditzer Kreuz, Abfahrt Radefeld, Ausschilderung Richtung Innenstadt / Altes Messegelände folgen. Wegen Baumaßnahmen kann es zu Änderungen der Verkehrsführung kommen. Öffentliche Parkplätze sind in unmittelbarer Umgebung.
Directions by local public transport
Vom Hauptbahnhof: Mit der Straßenbahnlinie 16 vom Hauptbahnhofsvorplatz, Gleis 2, Richtung Lößnig bis zur Haltestelle "Deutsche Nationalbibliothek". Fahrzeit etwa 11 Minuten. Vom S-Bahnhof Bayerischer Bahnhof: Mit der Straßenbahnlinie 2, Richtung Meusdorf oder 16 bis zur Haltestelle "Deutsche Nationalbibliothek". Fahrzeit etwa 5 Minuten. Vom Flughafen Leipzig / Halle: Mit der S-Bahn-Linie 5 bis zur Haltestelle "Bayerischer Bahnhof“ (Fahrzeit ca. 20 Minuten) , dann weiter wie oben erwähnt. Von der Messe Leipzig: Mit der Straßenbahnlinie 16 bis zur Haltestelle "Deutsche Nationalbibliothek". Fahrzeit etwa 35 Minuten.
- Wheelchair-friendly bathroom facilities
- Disabled car parking available
- Barrier-free accessibility with local public transport
Funding formula
A cooperation between the German National Library’s German Museum of Books and Writing, the Saxon State Ministry of the Interior, the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony and Justus H. Ulbricht, Dresden.