5 November 2019 press release

On 14 and 15 November 2019, the German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library in Leipzig will host the final event of the activities to mark the centenary of Bauhaus in Saxony.

The conference will address what relevance Bauhaus still has to our political and social present.

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 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.

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.

Sponsored by the Saxon State Ministry of the Interior and the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony. This measure is being co-funded through public funds from the budget allocated by the Saxon Landtag parliament.

Freedom – art – community.
Bauhaus ideas as questions of the present day.
A conference.

Thursday, 14 November 10:00–20:00
Friday, 15 November, 9:30–13:00
The detailed programme of the conference can be found at www.dnb.de/EN/bauhaus
Free admission, prior booking is not required
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 person: Dr. Stephanie Jacobs, phone: +49 341 2271-575, s.jacobs@dnb.de 

Background

The book has shaped our culture and civilisation like no other medium. For centuries our knowledge about the world and its peoples has been stored in books. The task of the German Book and Writing Museum of the German National Library is to collect, exhibit and process evidence of book and media history. Founded in 1884 in Leipzig as the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum (German Book Trade Museum), it is the oldest museum in the world in the field of book culture, and also one of the most important with regard to the scope and quality of its holdings. The museum interlinks its holdings through national and international cooperative projects and feeds them into the widest possible range of academic disciplines.