The Bauhaus: 90 Years / 90 Days
The Bauhaus celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2009, and “The Bauhaus: 90 Years / 90 Days” commemorated this anniversary. During this 90-day project (from July 6 till October 3), projects happened which creatively played around with and paid homage to an aspect of the Bauhaus. Examples of those projects included a dance performance inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s ballet, a musical performance that uses a Kandinsky painting as a graphic score, a fiber art project inspired by Anni Albers’ work, a poem inspired by Walter Gropius’ architecture, a short story inspired by Marianne Brandt’s work, an essay reflecting on an aspect of the Bauhaus movement, and so on.
These events were presented at different locations around the world, and this website documents those projects. Part of "The Bauhaus: 90 Years / 90 Days" were part of The Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival. “The Bauhaus: 90 Years / 90 Days” was presented by the Borderbend Arts Collective and the Gropius in Chicago Coalition.
The Bauhaus' "novel method of education in design has been widely misunderstood and misinterpreted. The present generation is inclined to think of it as a rigid stylistic dogma of yesterday whose usefulness has come to an end because its ideological and technical premises are now outdated. This view confuses a method of approach with the practical results obtained by it at a particular period of its application. The Bauhaus was not concerned with the formulation of timebound, stylistic concepts, and its technical methods were not ends in themselves. It was created to show how a multitude of individuals, willing to work concertedly but without losing their identity, could evolve a kinship of expression in their response to the challenges of the day. Its aim was to give a basic demonstration of how to maintain unity in diversity, and it did this with the materials, techniques, and form concepts germane to its time. It was this method of approach that was revolutionary…” -- Walter Gropius, from "The Role of the Architect in Modern Society” address given at Columbia University (March 1961)
