Bauhaus Open House - Exhibitions

On the occasion of 100 years of Bauhaus, Goethe-Institut Cyprus is organizing a series of events called Bauhaus Open House, including two exhibitions "bauhaus imaginista – collected research" and "Fivos Polydorides – representative of Cyprus modernism" from the 27th of March until the 19th of April 2019. At the exhibition opening on Wednesday 27th of March at 20:00, a short discussion will take place between architect Alexis Papadopoulos and Fivos Polydorides, about architecture in Cyprus through the years. This will be followed by a short talk by Grant Watson, curator of bauhaus imaginista, and Luca Frei, who conceived the exhibition structure. The exhibition opening will wrap up with Chronos contemporary music ensemble playing contemporary pieces by European composers of the Bauhaus era.

BAUHAUS IMAGINISTA - COLLECTED RESEARCH
bauhaus imaginista – collected research is a comprehensive international project on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of the school with a focus on its international dissemination and reception.

From its inception, the Bauhaus was internationally oriented, students and educators came from Europe and Asia to become affiliated with the school. It was characterized by heterogeneity and at different times it assumed ideas from the arts and crafts movement, socialism, communism and spiritualism, soviet constructivism and "Neues Bauen". In 1933 the school was shut down and forcefully dissolved by national socialists, whereupon many of its members were forced to leave Germany. Subsequently, the Bauhaus spread also in countries and cultures outside Europe. In collaboration with researchers and academics from Brazil, China, India, Japan, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia and the USA, bauhaus imaginista traces this expansion in different parts of the world.

The touring exhibition unites ideas, research and documentation of bauhaus imaginista. The artist Luca Frei has developed a structure – part sculpture, part exhibition architecture – as a room, in which visitors can grapple the different levels of this project. It includes curatorial research, texts and images for each of the four chapters, as well as documentation of the international bauhaus imaginista programme from 2018.

A computer terminal where visitors can search the online-magazine of bauhaus imaginista and print photos and texts, and collate them in the available folders, has a central role in the installation.

A separate film programme shows specially made works by contemporary artists and researchers Zvi Efrat, Kader Attia, the Otolith Group and Wendelien van Oldenburgh, on subjects and histories of Bauhaus.

FIVOS POLYDORIDES - REPRESENTATIVE OF CYPRUS MODERNISM
Limassol-based architect Fivos Polydorides is among the Cypriot modernist architects. His work presented and celebrated in this small exhibit, attempts to create a link between architecture in Cyprus and the Bauhaus movement.

Curating team: Yiorgos Hadjichristou office
Director: Yiorgos Hadjichristou
Person in charge: Maria Yiannakou
Team: Maria Yiannakou, Elli Balabanidou, Christina Galanou, Anastasis Balabanides, Elena Kapakiotou, Yiorgos Hadjichristou
Collaborator: Alexis Papadopoulos
Scanning: Alexis Papadopoulos, Phidias Pavlides, Maria Yiannakou
Material: archive of Fivos Polydorides

With a warm thank you to Fivos Polydorides, for kindly providing us his archive material.

Exhibition opening with concert: Wednesday 27th of March at 20:00
Exhibition duration: Thursday 28th of March - Friday 19th of April 2019
Opening hours: Monday - Friday 10:00 - 12:00 and 16:00 - 20:00