What does Bauhaus style mean today? How do its ideals manifest in contemporary design? How do they translate into the Internet age? These are questions the Vitra Design Museum aims to answer in its latest exhibition, opening Saturday on the museum’s campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany.
The now-legendary Bauhaus school, founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919 (and later moved to Dessau and Berlin), played host to art and design greats including Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Paul Klee, Anni and Josef Albers, and Piet Mondrian, and paved the way for a concept of design that is still apparent today. “The Bauhaus #itsalldesign” will comprise a multitude of exhibits across a wide range of media, juxtaposing original Bauhaus work by the likes of Gropius, Breuer, and Wassily Kandinsky with that of present-day masters including Lord Norman Foster, Hella Jogernus, and Konstantin Grcic, to name a few.
The museum points to a renewed discussion about how designers can place their work into a larger context in order to effect social change. And indeed, the Bauhaus’s then-revolutionary championing of interdisciplinary work and design as a way of life, is now fundamental in contemporary design practice. In the Vitra exhibit, curator Jolanthe Kugler cites today’s examples, including automotive design at Mercedes-Benz and product innovation at Muji. In a final nod to the current zeitgeist, the exhibit’s subtitle serves as an invitation for visitors to share their experiences at the show as well as their own views on design, ensuring that the Bauhaus’s principles continue to spread.
“The Bauhaus #itsalldesign” is open September 26 through February 28 at the Vitra Museum, Charles-Eames-Straße 2, Weil am Rhein, Germany; design-museum.de
