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Book presentation and discussion with Iris Dressler and Hans D. Christ (Directors Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart)

Hybrid event at station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf and via Zoom

In the context of the exhibition Salud - Picasso Speaking. Guernica and the War in the Cities at the station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf, Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler present their latest publication 50 Jahre nach 50 Jahre Bauhaus (50 Years after 50 Years of Bauhaus) and relate it to aspects of the show - especially in relation to the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World's Fair.

Contrary to the historicizing reception of the Bauhaus in 1968, which is reduced to West Germany and the United States, 50 Jahre nach 50 Jahre Bauhaus reflects on the famous school in the context of artistic movements such as the Mouvement International pour un Bauhaus Imaginiste or the Situationist International.

On May 4, 1968, and a few hours after protests by revolting students in Paris led to the evacuation of the Sorbonne University, the exhibition 50 Years of the Bauhaus opened at the Württembergischer Kunstverein. The show, conceived by Herbert Bayer, Ludwig Grote, Hans Maria Wingler and the then Kunstverein director Dieter Honisch, is still considered one of the most influential exhibitions on the Bauhaus project. At the same time, less than 100 kilometers away, the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm was being wound up. This was considered the—then last—resurrection of the Bauhaus, which had repeatedly been driven out of Germany.

50 years after the opening of 50 Years of the Bauhaus, the Württembergischer Kunstverein undertook a critical re-reading of the 1968 exhibition as well as the opportunistic politics of many of the actors. In particular, the ambivalent relations between various of the movements prominent protagonists and National Socialism were analyzed. This referred, among other things, to the developments of the modern exhibition display between experiment and political propaganda. But also the relationship between the artistic avant-gardes and the industrial-military complex was taken into consideration.

Based on their publication, Dressler and Christ talk about the collective curatorial methods of the Stuttgart project—not least about the historical ties between the Württembergischer Kunstverein and the former NGBK, which this event aims to revive.

Iris Dressler and Hans D. Christ have directed the Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart since 2005. In 1996 they founded the Hartware MedienKunstverein in Dortmund and were responsible for it until 2004. In 2019 they were the artistic directors of the Bergen Assembly.