Architecture, art and design - 100 years of the Bauhaus (2/3) | DW Documentary

The Bauhaus still exerts influence on art, design and architecture around the globe. But is it to blame for the modern world’s obsession with design?

New approaches to education and training, architecture, painting, dance and design were explored and developed at the Bauhaus. Its founder and director Walter Gropius attracted the leading creative figures of the era, including Hannes Meyer, Mies van der Rohe, Lyonel Feininger, Oskar Schlemmer, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, Anni Albers, Josef Albers and Gunta Stölzl. Today, Bauhaus is considered the birthplace of Modernism and has become a byword for sleek, functional design.

Founded in Weimar in 1919, the Bauhaus school moved to Dessau in 1925 and then to Berlin, where it was forced to shut in 1933 after Hitler seized power. Most of its artists, architects and visionaries emigrated, fanning out and spreading the Bauhaus doctrine around the world.

Filmmaker Lydia Ranke and her team traveled the world to make the three-part documentary bauhausWORLD. Alongside the Bauhaus sites of Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, they visited Tokyo, Amman, Tel Aviv, New York, Chicago, Medellín and Mexico City, talking to experts from Norman Foster and Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao to architecture critic Mark Wigley, furniture designer Yinka Ilori and fashion designer Kasia Kucharska.

Part 2 of bauhausWORLD, "The Effect", takes viewers on a journey from Dessau to New York, Älmhult in Sweden and Ulm in Germany to examine the influence that Bauhaus still exerts on art, design and architecture around the globe. Nowadays the name of Bauhaus has been transformed into a brand. Is it to blame for the modern world’s obsession with design?
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[minutestomidnight]

13:10 There are two points he raises: First, was Bauhaus great publicity but that's all they were from day one?

Bauhaus was based on important ideas. Even if they had a great publicity machine, the ideas and rationale they presented are clear, and people can decide what they think of those ideas for themselves. From what I know, their ideology seems brilliant.

Now, the second point: is what was proliferated in modern society really just managerial culture?

The reality is that the Bauhaus way of working is not the most efficient, or fits our consumerism, instant-results (or instant-gratification), ruthlessly self-involved society. Our society is one where corporations prefer to cram as many people as possible into as little space as they can get away with (because working space costs money), and have those people work for as long as possible for as little pay as possible.

Only select businesses (or even just specific departments) focused on artistic expression have a workplace that promotes creativity and communal work. That ends up being a very small part of industry

20:15 What he's forgetting is that the Bauhaus ideas were based on taking care of people, not just physically but psychologically. The ideas were based on a different way of living, working and learning, that efficiency and turning out products as fast as possible was secondary.

So, Bauhaus influenced art and architecture in the U.S….but for all the Bauhaus aesthetic, the ideology didn't pass into the rest of the society, just the style, artistic influence, and the utility theories.

39:35 Before Bauhaus, buying expensive things and fashionable things was supremely popular for decades, even centuries (people spent the fortunes of entire countries on popular art and design). The difference is that only the rich could afford them before serialisation. So yeah, our society has a real problem with consumerism, but that's not a problem created by Bauhaus.

Maybe we do need a new definition of design, but before that, maybe people should go back and read the initial Bauhaus ideology so they can understand how far Bauhaus drifted into its current state, and that the reason is because the ideology was lost, and its progress was driven by societal issues into its current form.

Asking questions and looking for answers is most important of all. A witch-hunt is just a typically American way to hide from the problem, and I think I'll pass on that.

[Gkuljian]

I have only seen photos of the triadic dance in my Bauhaus book. This is incredible. I finally got to see it come to life. I've searched for all I can find on Bauhaus. Once when I was a roofer I was walking through someone's house to get to the roof when I spotted a book on Bauhaus. I made a note of it and eventually found it in a book store. But there isn't much on the subject, that I've found. This is a valuable documentary.

[Ethakin]

loving the Nils Frahm backing tracks on these videos!

[brunoamaral]

I’m interacting with this video so that the algorithm shows me more of this incredible stuff.

[plentiheart]

I've never seen a more polarizing comment section. Bauhaus is just one of many design philosophies. It has its pros and cons, functionality at the cost of personality. Although many would say it has its own personality as well.

[DMLand]

Your musical choices are outstanding. I did not expect to hear Nik Bärtsch. Excellent docuseries.

Do you have a list of the music in this series? I would like to expand my listening.

[nupash]

Amazing to see people who feel the culture and love it, save it....

[badapple]

Many creative people fall into life as it comes instead of following their urges to create and design. It would be something to explore as a student or intern before the bills start rolling in from modern life. I’ve always admired people that have been able to make a life, a career, out of creative energy.

[perttiheinikko]

Nice documentary! Blaming the folks at Bauhaus on global warming and the coming extinction of our species (like the New York guy) is certainly original thinking, if nothing else!

[carladeniseferreira]

Astonishing Merce Cunningham’s inspired ballet!

[NormanF]

My building in Silver Cliff, Colorado is inspired by the world-famous Laubenganghäuser in Dessau. The Bauhaus spread its effect around the world! 😊

[lydiarowe]

Making design from these concepts is sense making..dimension and sizing to suit a space just makes sense..not thought of this idea but will take it up..⭐

[nephildevil]

Great docu but I think Sustainable Architecture/Design is the future.

[NormanF]

Watching from an Apple mini iPad. The past meets the present.😊

[mnldgbD]

Great stuff guys thanks for all the effort onto making it.

[chigal]

I appreciate Chicago getting its due when it comes to architecture, and the Bauhaus school. Despite popular belief the skyscrapers were first built in Chicago, not New York City.

[desertblbuesman]

100 years to strip the beauty away? I'm inspired by the original artists and craftsman every day. Nothing these days even interests me.

[perrycomeau]

The Bauhaus is very strong force for the 21st century.

[nterpretThis]

Can someone please suggest a Bauhaus hair clipper to Mr. Hans-Knud Arndt so he could fix those eyebrows? A Bauhaus cleaning kit for his bathroom wouldn't hurt either.

[benmike]

Thanks DW for the informative documentary