In East German Dessau, the year of celebrations for the hundredth anniversary of the Bauhaus has begun

Berlin – In the East German city of Dessau, the main part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus has begun. The famous art school moved from Weimar to the city in 1925. The anniversary will be marked by a series of exhibitions, lectures, film screenings, and conferences that will focus on history, as well as the challenges facing contemporary architecture and construction. The Bauhaus year in Dessau officially started this week and will last until December next year, marking the centenary of the opening of the school's modern headquarters, which has made Dessau a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

The Bauhaus School of Fine Art was established in 1919 in Weimar by architect Walter Gropius. However, in 1925 it had to move to Dessau, where it experienced its greatest flourishing. For the last two years of its existence, it was located in Berlin before being closed by the Nazis in 1933. Despite its relatively short period of operation, the Bauhaus left an indelible mark on modern architecture, design, and applied arts. The creators emphasized simplicity, geometry, and function over the ornamental decoration of Art Nouveau.

The first events for the centenary of the transfer of the Bauhaus from Weimar to Dessau took place earlier this year, but the main part of the celebrations began this week with a ceremonial event. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, stated in her greeting that it is important to remember the history of the Bauhaus art school, whose innovative strength continues to inspire today. Reiner Haseloff, the Prime Minister of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, where Dessau is located, warned against questioning the legacy of the Bauhaus. He was responding to criticism from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which previously labeled the artistic movement as a "dead end of modernity" that led to "globalist uniformity." According to Haseloff, there needs to be room for experimentation instead.

In the next sixteen months, a series of cultural and social events is planned under the motto "To the Essence" (An die Substanz). However, the program for the jubilee year in Dessau is somewhat more modest than the grand celebrations of the centenary of the Bauhaus in 2019, which included the opening of museums in Weimar and Dessau.

According to the director of the Bauhaus Foundation, Barbara Steiner, the conference and lectures will focus on issues of materials and their use a hundred years ago and now. Looking at the current development, the program will focus on architecture and construction during a time of scarcity of natural resources and climate change. According to Steiner, not everyone may appreciate the Bauhaus, but differing opinions must be tolerated. "Otherwise, the legacy of the Bauhaus would be dead," she said.

At the Bauhaus, alongside architecture, metalwork, textiles, photography, typography, and scenography were also taught. The aim was for graduates to master their craft and various disciplines, becoming well-rounded artists. Prominent figures such as architects Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and artists Vasilij Kandinskij, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Lyonel Feininger, Josef Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, and Oskar Schlemmer were associated with the Bauhaus. Among the Czechs, the art theorist and artist Karel Teige lectured in Dessau. Besides Dessau, the UNESCO list also includes Bauhaus buildings in Weimar in Thuringia and in the Brandenburg town of Bernau near Berlin.