Bauhaus.

A Conceptual Model
The Exhibition
Berlin
Martin-Gropius-Bau
22 July – 4 October
2009
Bauhaus.
A Conceptual Model
The Exhibition

Ninety years ago, Walter Gropius

founded the Bauhaus in Weimar.
It existed for only 14 years, but it
became the most important school
of modernity.
With Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marcel
Breuer, Lyonel Feininger, Johannes Itten,
Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Gerhard
Marcks, Adolf Meyer, Georg Muche,
László Moholy-Nagy, Hinnerk Scheper,
Oskar Schlemmer, Joost Schmidt,
Lothar Schreyer and Gunta Stölzl,
a faculty with an international reputation
worked under the direction of Walter
Gropius (1919 – 1928), Hannes Meyer
(1928 – 1930) and Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe (1930 – 1933) at the Bauhaus.
The Bauhaus Masters in 1926
(on the roof of the Bauhaus building, 4 December 1926)
left to right: Josef Albers, Hinnerk Scheper, Georg Muche,
László Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, Joost Schmidt, Walter Gropius,
Marcel Breuer, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger,
Gunta Stölzl, Oskar Schlemmer
Photo: unknown
Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin / Musée National d’Art Moderne /
Centre Pompidou

The Bauhaus is Germany’s most successful

contribution to international art and culture of
modernity in the early 20th century. More than
75 years after it was closed in Berlin, the repu-
tation of this inter-disciplinary school for archi-
tecture, design, visual and performing arts that
moved to Dessau in 1925 continues to be as
internationally significant as ever. The vibrancy
and impact of the Bauhaus during its existence
and after its dissolution in 1933 demonstrate
that although the Bauhaus, as a laboratory
and workshop of modernity, was destoyed by
a deliberate political act, it was exactly that
circumstance that enabled it to unfurl its global
influence – history’s irony.
Lyonel Feininger
“Kathedrale” (Cathedral),
title page of the Bauhaus
Manifesto and
Programme,
April 1919, zinc etching
after a woodcut,
Bauhaus Archive Berlin

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the

Bauhaus and 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the leading
Bauhaus research institutions and museums in Germany – the
Bauhaus Archive, the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and the Klassik
Stiftung Weimar – for the first time jointly present an exhibition:
Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model. With well over 900 objects it
will be the largest Bauhaus exhibition ever.

Peter Keler
Cradle, 1922
Klassik Stiftung Weimar
The exhibition recounts the story of the Bauhaus in a compre-
hensive presentation of the works of its masters and students
as well as the most important school issues. Inter-disciplinary,
experimental teaching, the concept of practice-oriented work-
shops, the pursuit of answers to social questions, the propaga-
tion of timeless aesthetics as well as experimentation with new
techniques and materials in architecture and design were the
school’s most important concerns. The exhibition Bauhaus.
A Conceptual Model centres on the comprehensive signifi-
cance of the Bauhaus for the development and internationalisation
of modernity and goes beyond, examining its world-wide, lasting
impact on architecture and design up until the present day.

Walter Gropius
Memorial for the „March Heroes“,
1921 (working model),
Klassik Stiftung Weimar

Marcel Breuer/Gunta Stölzl

“African Chair”, 1921,
purchased with the support of the
Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung,
the Kulturstiftung der Länder
and the bauhaus shop berlin
Photo: Hartwig Klappert, Berlin
Bauhaus Archive Berlin
Alfred Arndt
Colour plans for the
Bauhaus masters‘
houses in Dessau,
1926,
Ink and tempera
on paper,
Bauhaus Archive Berlin

While previous exhibitions on the Bauhaus were grouped

according to its workshops, Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model
chooses the perspective of the history of its development,
embedding the objects into their respective contexts. The cura-
tors of the three participating Bauhaus institutions also pursue
the issues of the further development, reception and current
significance of the Bauhaus. Designed by the scenographs
chezweitz&roseapple, the presentation of the historical Bauhaus
is located in the 18 ground floor galleries of the Martin-Gropius-
Bau, while in the centre hall of the building the relevance of the
Bauhaus will be discussed and re-positioned. In her installation
“Do-It-Yourself Bauhaus” the American artist Christine Hill and
her production label Volksboutique will focus on the trivialisation
of the Bauhaus in today‘s consumer and every-day culture.
Additionally, ten interviewees will express their opinion about the
meaning of the Bauhaus ideas today in a video installation by
Andreas and Ilka Ruby.
Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model is presented in collaboration with
the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which will celebrate its
80th birthday with the exhibition Bauhaus 1919 – 1933: Work-
shops for Modernity directly following the Berlin presentation.

Based on 68 key objects representing the thematic areas of the

exhibition, the catalogue recounts the history of the Bauhaus
and is supplemented by five essays on the reception of the
Bauhaus. In addition to the curators from Berlin, Dessau and
Weimar, the authors are prominent artists, scholars and writers,
architects and designers. Ed.: Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Stiftung
Bauhaus Dessau, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Hatje Cantz Verlag,
376 pp., 314 colour illustrations.
Book store edition: € 39.80, Museum edition: € 29.80

For the exhibition, the audio guide will be issued as an audio

book along with the double CD “Turbulent Times. New Music in
the Weimar Republik 1919 – 1933”.

Erich Consemüller
Bauhaus Stage (Lis Beyer or Ise Gropius
seated in the steel-tube armchair by
Marcel Breuer), 1926, gelatin silver print,
Wulf Herzogenrath collection
 Iwao Yamawaki
The Attack on the Bauhaus, 1932,
photo collage (illustration in the magazine
“Kokusai-Kenchiku”, Tokyo, 1932),
Bauhaus Archive Berlin

Supporting programme
An extensive programme will be offerend to accompany
the exhibition, inculding the following:

International Symposium „Global Bauhaus“

5 days during the week from 21 until 27 September 2009
Location: Martin-Gropius-Bau, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau
Conference languages: German/English

Architecture Tours in Berlin and Dessau

in German and English
By subway, Fridays 3 pm:
Half-day tour of Berlin-Zehlendorf: € 39 per person
By bus, Saturdays and Sundays:
Half-day tour of Berlin: € 48 per person
All day tour of Dessau: € 95 per person
Booking: info@ticket-b.de

Discussions on the timeliness of modernity and its ideals

Further information at:

www.modell-bauhaus.de
Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model – The Exhibition

Exhibition by the three German Bauhaus institutions

Bauhaus Archive Berlin / Museum für Gestaltung, Stiftung
Bauhaus Dessau and Klassik Stiftung Weimar in cooperation
with the Museum of Modern Art in New York

www.modell-bauhaus.de

Martin-Gropius-Bau
Niederkirchnerstraße 7, 10963 Berlin

U-Bahn: U2 Potsdamer Platz

S-Bahn: S1, S2, S25 Anhalter Bahnhof / Potsdamer Platz
Bus: M29, M41, M48, 200, 347

Opening Hours:
22 July until 4 October 2009
Daily 10am – 8 pm

Entrance Fees:
Regular € 10, reduced € 8
Children and teenagers until 16 years free
Photo credits: VG-Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2009 for Alfred Arndt, Lyonel Feininger, Walter Gropius, Gunta Stölzl

Audio guide:
Regular € 4, reduced € 3

Group rates for a minimum of 10 persons:

Regular € 8, reduced € 6

Group tours (90 minutes, up to 25 participants):

German € 75, in addition to entrance fees
foreign language € 75, in addition to entrance fees
Pupils € 60, in addition to entrance fees

Information and booking:

Service-Number: 01805 999 62 37 70
besucher@modell-bauhaus.de

Tourist Information:
Tel. +49 (0)30 250025
information@visitberlin.de

Bauhaus 1919 – 1933: Workshops for Modernity

Museum of Modern Art / New York
8 November 2009 until 18 January 2010
Organisers:

In cooperation with:

gefördert durch die

funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation

Main sponsors:

Supporters:

Media partners: