Bauhaus Now!
Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne

A new exhibition at Buxton Contemporary explores the enduring legacy of another, very different 20th-century art movement: Bauhaus, which came out of the German art school the Staatliches Bauhaus that operated from 1919 to 1933. With its focus on bringing crafts, arts and architecture together in the pursuit of a total work of art – Gesamtkunstwerk – it became one of the most influential modern design movements. Bauhaus Now!, curated by Ann Stephen, reveals a range of contemporary experiments inspired by the Bauhaus diaspora. Artists and students from several art, design and architecture schools across The University of Melbourne exhibit forms of creative play, while questioning and challenging conventional ideas and practices. A video performance installation by artists Mikala Dwyer and Justene Williams, inspired by the Bauhaus diaspora forced to flee Germany, has at its heart a thistle garden. The garden is surrounded by banners and video, screening apparitions of the Bauhaus masters Johannes Itten, Lothar Schreyer and Paul Klee, alongside a number of their students, including projections of George Adams-Teltscher, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack and Gertrude Herzger-Seligmann. All sing from coffins, with music inspired by Lothar Schreyer’s Bauhaus musical score. Elizabeth Pulie has created a new series of woven wall hangings inspired by the Bauhaus weaving workshop. There is also a focus on Bauhaus archival source material including postcards, drawing, magazines and prints, to highlight the Bauhaus legacy in Australia through three former students who came to Australia: Herzger-Seligmann, Adams-Teltscher and Hirschfeld-Mack. Bauhaus Now! runs until Sunday October 20, 2019 at Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne, Southbank.

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