The Matter of Data

The Centre for Documentary Architecture (CDA) was invited to develop the project ‘The Matter of Data’ by the Bauhaus Kooperation. It traces the materiality of the ‘Bauhaus Modernism’ previously presented in diverse exhibition formats in the Bauhaus-Museum Weimar, the Max Liebling House in Tel Aviv and the Architektur Galerie Berlin.

These exhibitions presented heritage conservation-related analyses which literally scratch the surfaces of the seemingly white facades of the ‘White City’ of Tel Aviv. Beneath the deeper layers of paint and other materials in the Max Liebling House (Dov Karmi, 1937) they reveal not only the history of the city’s origins in the context of flight and migration, but also its politicisation and marketing. In view of the international resonance of the Bauhaus Centenary 2019, the exhibitions also scrutinised the political dimension of the term ‘Bauhaus Modernism’ and investigated the complexity of the modern era’s history of flight and exile between Germany and former Palestine. Based on the example of the politics and logistics of exporting building materials from Germany to British Mandate Palestine in the 1930s, architecture was thus presented as an agglomeration and document of the historical and political relations.

The project, which was curated by Professor Ines Weizman of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, combined film documentation, archive studies, material analyses and building documentation. In order enable the expansion of, and virtual access to, the wealth of references and research papers beyond the duration of the exhibitions, the CDA developed a comprehensive and innovative online archive which makes a lasting commitment to the history of modern architecture and its exile and transfer histories, as well as diverse future lives and reinterpretations.