Bauhaus Reflex

Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, founded in Munich in 1925, is one of the largest museums of modern design in the world. Its connection to the Bauhaus was strong from the very beginning; until the late 1920s Munich was an important centre of the avant-garde, and not only because it was home to the Deutscher Werkbund. The extraordinary Bauhaus works in the Neue Sammlung can be divided into several categories. Not only does the museum own numerous original pieces produced at the Bauhaus, but also designs created by Bauhaus instructors and students. In addition, the collection contains items which were directly influenced by the Bauhaus, as well as contemporary objects which refer to the design theories propagated by the Bauhaus. For "Reflex Bauhaus" Die Neue Sammlung invited the artist Tilo Schulz to examine and discuss the importance of the Bauhaus for the collection today. The project’s artistic concept proposed generating five contemporary reflections which relate to this Bauhaus collection. Five international artists of varying disciplines, the poet Barbara Köhler, the artist Sofie Thorsen, the German-Turkish designer Ayzit Bostan, the Japanese composer Junya Oikawa and Indian architect Aupama Kundoo created works based on a selected Bauhaus object. The principles of the Bauhaus and its visions for society, which remain as topical as ever, can be deciphered from historical Bauhaus designs. The project invited the selected artists to explore the meaning of these at different levels, e.g. aspects of formal design, function, materiality, production method, social impact, flexible and healthy living, education, outer appearance, internationality and their significance in our present day. Tilo Schulz developed an artistic installation for the exhibition which interweaved the historical objects with various levels of reception.

Artistic directors: Angelika Nollert and Tilo Schulz