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05/23/2019 | Pressemitteilung

Exhibition "bauhaus | documenta" opened

With a press conference and a vernissage, the exhibition "bauhaus | documenta. Vision and Brand" was opened with a press conference and a vernissage. It was curated by Prof. Philipp Oswalt, Professor of Architectural Theory and Design at the University of Kassel, and Daniel Tyradellis.

Image: University of Kassel.
Prof. Philipp Oswalt (r.) explains the exhibition to University President Prof. Reiner Finkeldey.

The exhibition "bauhaus | documenta. Vision and Brand" reflects for the first time on the two institutions Bauhaus and documenta in comparison. The 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus in 2019 provides the occasion to look at the development of both institutions, which have become cultural brands, and thus at the same time to critically question: Where do the brands remain true to themselves as a commitment to innovation and progress, where are they part of an interest-driven appropriation? In this way, the exhibition simultaneously offers a view of the role and function that art and culture can assume in a society today.

The Bauhaus, founded 100 years ago in Weimar, and the documenta: both still stand for a tradition of modernism and avant-garde in Germany, for visionary cultural brands with international appeal, and for a belief in artistic innovation and its social-reforming power. Both have formed their own idealistic values and achieved an almost popular notoriety. Through installations, striking original artworks, documentary objects, and statistical material, the exhibition creates a parcours across seven thematic rooms, ranging from the genesis and early visions of both cultural institutions to their reception today. Exhibiting artists include: Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Bazon Brock, Hans Haacke, Wassily Kandinsky, Barbara Klemm, Aleksandr Ptuschko and Gilles Raynaldy. Divided into seven thematic areas, the exhibition asks about mediation strategies and media reception, about power and influences, about ideals, values, and usability: What motivates individuals, institutions, entire cities to engage with art and culture? What forms of mediation are there? Who makes the authoritative decisions about selection, presentation, and impact? And what are the target groups: Who is reached? And who is not? Philipp Oswalt, one of the two curators of the exhibition: "The parallel examination of Bauhaus and documenta provides completely new insights into the two cultural brands. At the same time, it critically questions the promise that art is socially emancipative."

The exhibition will be flanked by a virtual exhibition on the theme "How much Bauhaus is in documenta? A Search for Traces" (starting Aug. 15, 2019), as well as a publication that encompasses all project components and will be published by Spector Books to coincide with the opening of the exhibition. As part of the project, the symposium, conceived by Heinz Bude, will explore the question, "Have we really never been modern? Bauhaus and documenta in Elective Affinity"(June 14-15, 2019, Kunsthochschule Kassel).

bauhaus | documenta. Vision and brand. 5/24-8/9/2019, Neue Galerie, Kassel.
A project of the documenta archive and the University of Kassel in cooperation with the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel.