Bauhaus is a household name in the general public
Interview with Jean Molitor
Since ten years the photographer Jean Molitor has travelled all over the world to capture modernism’s architectural testimonies for posterity. His archive against decay documents both Bauhaus icons and many unknown treasures. On the occasion of his exhibition in Chemnitz – which includes many regional buildings – we spoke to him about 100 years bauhaus and 10 years bauh1haus.
You considered much of what you would refer to today as “buildings of modernism” as “Bauhaus” when you started out with your project in Burundi. In your experience, is the “Bauhaus” label commonly used around the world or is it a German projection?
The project bau1haus is continuously being expanded. From my point of view today I prefer to speak about the so-called classical modernism in all kinds of manifestations. Thus modernism probably spread in the world on various paths, through different trends and tendencies such as DeStijl, the Russian constructivists and the avant-garde or art deco, just to name a few. But also the Bauhaus icons Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe carried modernism out into the world along with many other important architects such as Erich Mendelsohn, Frank Lloyd Wright, Peter Behrens, the Taut brothers, Hans Poelzig and Le Corbusier. Ultimately it will have been a large network and it can’t be clearly distinguished, who inspired or copied whom.
Modernism was further disseminated through emigration and colonisation as well as through chairs, publications and architectural contests and model estates. I see the Bauhaus school with its ideas, teachers and students as an important pillar in this overall development. Modernism didn’t just come out of nowhere and the Bauhaus didn’t invent modernism. On my trips, however, I often found that the people I asked – who I refer to as the general public – were familiar with the term Bauhaus and pointed out round fronts, flat roofs and glazed corner windows to me.
Your project probably shows better than any other that modernism was a global movement with many an actor. Neither a real centre, nor a consistent “style” can be identified. What do you think is the connection between all the buildings you have seen and portrayed? Is there possibly a common denominator despite all the diversity?
As I’m an architect and not a photographer, I primarily follow my own aesthetic perception. The project doesn’t want to give any answers, but would rather like to raise questions and contrast different architectural design elements. And the experience with the objects in the exhibition and those I took photos of shows: If one were to remove the captions, it may prove challenging to match the images with the corresponding region.
100 years bauhaus is also 10 years bau1haus: When do you think that your project will have been completed?
As far as content is concerned, it will probably not be possible to complete the project. At present photos have been taken in 30 countries and preliminary research in over 110 further countries has successfully been carried out. Currently there are around 400 motives ready to be exhibited. I would think that this is around 1% of the estimated volume.
