Bauhaus. Model and myth

Even today it remains the basic building block of modern architecture and design: Bauhaus. But there's more to “Bauhaus” than just the cubic white house with its flat roof, the cantilever chair and the Bauhaus lamp. The Bauhaus was an educational institution which still serves as a model today. Among the world-renowned artists who taught there are Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, Oskar Schlemmer, Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe.

The film presents a picture of this unique institution of artistic modernism; from the revolutionary outburst following the First World War to disbandment, emigration and professional advancement, or, for some Bauhaus artists, becoming entangled in Nazi Germany. It is former Bauhaus students, both male and female, who tell most of the story, recalling these phases in history; their teachers themselves have their chance to speak via archive material.

This critical account of the artistic and political objectives of the Bauhaus is perhaps the most comprehensive to be portrayed on film. It provides an insight into the essence of Bauhaus principles, the conflicts which led to the Bauhaus's relocation from Weimar to Dessau, the disbandment of the school during the Nazi period, the construction activity in the young Israeli state, and the emergence of the “Bauhaus myth” in the USA.

Directed by Niels Bolbrinker/Kerstin Sutterheim | 104 Min.
In German with English subtitles.