Foto: Wilko Austermann © NRWKS

100 Years of Bauhaus in the West – Roots and Repercussions of the Bauhaus in North Rhine-Westphalia

Research trip

On the occasion of its 100th anniversary in 2019, the Bauhaus movement was the focus of widespread attention – in North-Rhine Westphalia there were more than 40 exhibitions and projects alone. The International Visitors Programme used this as an opportunity to invite six international directors, artists and journalists to join an interdisciplinary themed trip to NRW from 26th November to 1st December 2019.

The guests from Italy, Taiwan, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA found out about the »Konstellationen« (Constellations) project in particular, which was a collaboration between Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf, Museum Folkwang and PACT Zollverein in Essen as well as Museum Ludwig and the Centre for Contemporary Dance of the University for Music and Dance (HfMT) in Cologne. The group was offered a comprehensive insight into how the collaborative partners worked together by visiting the exhibitions and by meeting with Bettina Milz, head of the department theatre and dance at the Culture Department of the Ministry for Culture and Science of the Federal State of North-Rhine-Westphalia, Bettina Masuch, director of tanzhaus nrw, and Dr Isabelle Malz, curator for modern and contemporary art at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen.

The programme also comprised an exhibition and performance at Museum Ludwig in Cologne, visits to the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum and »Haus Lange« and »Haus Esters« in Krefeld, as well as a trip to Hohenhof and »Künstlerkolonie Gartenstadt« in Hagen, where they were accompanied by Bauhaus specialist Prof Dr Gerda Breuer. The trip was enhanced by a conversation with Dr Tayfun Belgin, director of the Osthaus Museum Hagen, a presentation of the Folkwang-concept by Peter Gorschlüter, director of Museum Folkwang in Essen, as well as an evening meal together with Stefan Hilterhaus, artistic director of PACT Zollverein Essen. The four-day research trip finished with a visit to the production »Das Lackballett« by Theater der Klänge, which took place at Flottmannhallen-Herne, rounded off by a final exchange with Jacqueline Fischer and Jörg Lensing, artistic directors of Theater der Klänge.