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Why Bauhaus will never go out of style

Elizabeth GrenierApril 4, 2016

An exhibition in Bonn explores what makes the legendary Bauhaus school of design so timeless. These architects and artists came up with a revolutionary idea that is now taken for granted: Everything is design.

https://p.dw.com/p/1IOvI
Exhibition "The Bauhaus. It's all design" in Bonn, Copyright: picture-alliance/dpa/O.Berg
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O.Berg

The exhibition "The Bauhaus. It's all design," held at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, explores how the cultural institution founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919 still influences artists and designers nearly a century later.

The students of the Bauhaus school learned how to combine art and technology with concepts of psychology and ergonomics to create objects of daily use that aimed to transform society. This multi-dimensional approach was revolutionary at the time, demonstrating that design is part of all areas of life. The Twitter hashtag associated with the exhibition, #allesistdesign (everything is design) underlines this idea.

The works of modernist designers such as Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Lyonel Feininger, Walter Gropius and Wassily Kandinsky meet those of contemporary creators such as Olaf Nicolai, Adrian Sauer, Enzo Mari, Lord Norman Foster, Opendesk, Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius, Alberto Meda and Jerszy Seymour.

The exhibition explores the social and historical context that allowed this movement to emerge. Beyond the classic Bauhaus icons, many other objects on show demonstrate how art, craft, technology, and industry were combined in new ways.

"The Bauhaus. It's all design" also examines how the school influenced spatial organization and typography. It contributed to creating its own myth by developing strong forms of communication. Beyond well-known minimalistic and geometric Bauhaus objects, these creators were interested in developing social interconnections, a concept which is at the heart of current discussions in design.

The show runs until August 14, 2016.