bauhaus.film.expanded
Kurt Schwerdtfeger, »Reflective Colour Light Plays«,1922/1967
Sat, February 08, 2020 – Sun, August 23, 2020
Atrium 1+2, 2nd floor
Extended Forms of Films
Political and Experimental Film Essays
Architectural Films
Abstract Films

»bauhaus.film.digitally.expanded«, initiated and curated by Teresa Retzer, makes the majority of the exhibition films freely available online and also expands the exhibition through expert discussions that are transmitted via the ZKM livestream. The Bauhaus films can be found below.

The show takes up the idea of a »Totaltheater – total theater,« which Bauhaus director Walter Gropius designed in 1926/1927 for Erwin Piscator: »I have not only envisaged the possibility of film projection upon the whole cyclorama of my three-fold stage by means of movable projectors,« wrote Gropius, »but I can also set the entire audience inside a film, as it were, by projecting on walls and ceilings.« In large format projections more than sixty films by Bauhaus authors will be presented in parallel to make the immersive virtual environment experienceable. Films of various lengths run in loops at forty media stations and continually spawn new interrelationships. Thematically and formally the films fall into four categories, and in the exhibition, they are shown: Abstract Films, Political and Experimental Film Essays, Architectural Films, Extended Forms of Films (light projections, film clips for the theater, film performances, film scores).

Persecution by the Nazis, emigration, and war destroyed parts of the Bauhaus film corpus with the effect that the ongoing development of the modern film in Germany came to a halt. Some Bauhaus authors could only realize the films they had conceived in their years at the Bauhaus after the war – partly because their projects needed color film and that had not yet been introduced. The light projections, dance and object theater, which were always presented live in the 1920s, can be viewed on recordings from the post-war period.

The show highlights particularly the important role of the seven Bauhaus women who made films. Two of them coauthored seminal German avant-garde films but up to now they have remained uncredited. In symbiotic living and working communities these women – amongst them Ellen Auerbach, Ella Bergmann-Michel, Ré Soupault (geb. Erna Niemeyer) und Lore Leudesdorff – brought the new formal language of the Bauhaus to the classic works of Absolute film.

Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy advocated establishing a »central experimental film section« at the school. As one of the most important image theorists of the twentieth century and one of the leading innovators at the Bauhaus he placed film and photography at the center of his thinking about »Neues Sehen – New Vision.« However, he was not successful in securing the necessary funding from industry for this venture. In spite of this, new research has shown that more than 28 Bauhaus authors did actually worked on film and light projections.

Films in the online exhibition »bauhaus.film.digitally.expanded«

Peter Weibel on the digital exhibition »bauhaus.film.digitally.expanded«

Films in the online exhibition »bauhaus.film.digitally.expanded«

Unfortunately, for legal reasons not all the films in the »bauhaus.film.expanded« exhibition can be made available online. Thanks to the generosity of some of the lenders, the majority of the films will be available online for the duration of the exhibition until 23 August 2020.

The videos and content shown in the context of the digital events of the ZKM are protected by copyright and may only be watched by the user on livestream. A partial or complete and permanent download is prohibited and constitutes an infringement of copyright.

Open Gallery
  • Photo of people in front of a projection screen with an abstract video in black and white - an impression of the exhibition »bauhaus.film.expanded« at the ZKM Karlsruhe.
  • Photo of a projection screen with a ballet video in black and white - an impression of the exhibition »bauhaus.film.expanded« at the ZKM Karlsruhe.
  • Photo of people in front of a projection screen with an abstract video in purple - an impression of the exhibition »bauhaus.film.expanded« at the ZKM Karlsruhe.
  • Black and white graphics with the lettering »Moholy-Nagy« on a white ball.
  • The photo shows a large white canvas on which a Bauhaus figure can be seen.
  • The photo shows the exhibition room with a large projection of a black and white film.
  • The photo shows two large canvases fixed around a column. On the left canvas there are bright colours to be seen on the right canvas three eyes. IM background a third canvas lights up with a cartoon.
  • The photo shows the silhouette of a person watching a black and white film on a large screen. On the screen, an analogue clock strikes twelve. The light of the screen falls a round blurred light on the floor.

Overview
  • Photo of people in front of a projection screen with an abstract video in black and white - an impression of the exhibition »bauhaus.film.expanded« at the ZKM Karlsruhe.
  • Photo of a projection screen with a ballet video in black and white - an impression of the exhibition »bauhaus.film.expanded« at the ZKM Karlsruhe.
  • Photo of people in front of a projection screen with an abstract video in purple - an impression of the exhibition »bauhaus.film.expanded« at the ZKM Karlsruhe.
  • Black and white graphics with the lettering »Moholy-Nagy« on a white ball.
  • The photo shows a large white canvas on which a Bauhaus figure can be seen.
  • The photo shows the exhibition room with a large projection of a black and white film.
  • The photo shows two large canvases fixed around a column. On the left canvas there are bright colours to be seen on the right canvas three eyes. IM background a third canvas lights up with a cartoon.
  • The photo shows the silhouette of a person watching a black and white film on a large screen. On the screen, an analogue clock strikes twelve. The light of the screen falls a round blurred light on the floor.
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ZKM | Center for Art and Media

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