“What do escalators in Medellín, Arabic lettering in Amman, story-telling furniture from London, urban farming in Detroit and a co-living complex in Tokyo have to do with the Bauhaus?” asks the German broadcasting site Deutsche Welle.
We guess you’ll just have to watch these free documentaries detailing the importance of the Bauhaus, one of the 20th century’s most prolific art movements, to find out.
To mark 100 years since the founding of the movement that shaped 20th-century art and design, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle is offering the docu-series Bauhaus World to stream for free.
This April marks 100 years since The Bauhaus School of Art and Design was founded. Although the school was short-lived, its movement left a legacy that has carried on to this day.
Known for its stylish minimalism, functionality and utilitarian aesthetics, the Bauhaus movement gained a reputation for being arguably the most important development in modern art in the twentieth century. It challenged traditional notions of romantic aestheticism; instead, it sought to level the distinction between fine and applied arts and reunite the gap between creativity and manufacturing.
Bauhaus World, the three-part documentary from Deutsche Welle, details not only the legacy left by prominent Bauhaus artists – Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, and Josef Albers, among others – but explores how it has managed to transcend time and continue to inspire artists, designers and architects in the modern day.
The documentary series reveals the parallels between the original Bauhaus teachings and those of creatives today. Deutsche Welle met with architects, urban planners, designers and artists from around the world who have consciously absorbed the spirit of the Bauhaus.
Bauhaus World journeys out of the movement’s native Germany and explores the relevance of Bauhaus in far-flung places around the globe. The docu-series travels from Mexico to Jordan, Israel to Colombia and the United States to Japan to discover the widespread influence of the movement.
The founding members of the Bauhaus movement would never have predicted the amount of influence their thoughts and ideas would have on the future of art and design.
Via Open Culture.
