To mark the anniversary, numerous study projects at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar are tackling the history of Bauhaus. The professorships of Experimental Radio and of Conservation and History of Architecture have taken an artistic approach to the legacies and traces of the famed art and design school. To this end, Media Art and Architecture and Urbanism students have joined forces in an interdisciplinary project to develop an audio walk.
»Welcome to the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Main Building. We are in the Main Building’s vestibule, right where one of the most influential art schools of all was founded a hundred years ago. Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Lázlo Moholy-Nagy all worked and taught here. So how was Bauhaus created? What does this school stand for?« are the words that greet users of the app.
The audio tour in German and English is split into seven tracks that can be listened to in any order. The walk begins with a track of just under an hour that incorporates the key Bauhaus sites on the University campus. There are another six shorter tracks for other parts of the city where Bauhaus has left traces, such as the Tempelherrenhaus or the Monument to the March Dead.
The audio walk is more than just an information audioguide, but instead makes visiting the stations a sensory experience by linking the content up with stories and sounds. The individual pieces were separately composed by students and artistically interwoven with original clips, interviews, sounds and dramatic elements. The seven resulting Bauhaus soundtracks tackle lesser known aspects of Weimar Bauhaus’s history as well as looking at current topics relating to the modern university.
The historical fact research, texts, and sound recordings were all produced by the students themselves, with professional actors engaged for the spoken texts. The spoken sections are continually accentuated by music – the soundtrack was composed by the bauhaus.fm radio orchestra, also a student project at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
The »Where is Walter?« audio walk is designed to be fully accessible, and all locations are within walking distance or can be reached via public transport. All you need to listen is a smartphone and headphones, even if you are not in Weimar. The app can be downloaded from the iOS and Android app stores. Visitors who do not have a smartphone can borrow a device from the info stand in the foyer of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Main Building.
»Where is Walter? – an Audio Walk for the 2019 Bauhaus Anniversary in Weimar«
A Bauhaus.Semester interdisciplinary project
Project management and editing:
Astrid Drechsler, Fabian Kühlein – Professorship of Experimental Radio (Prof. Nathalie Singer)
Dr.-Ing. Daniela Spiegel – Professorship of Conservation and History of Architecture (Prof. Dr. Hans-Rudolf Meier)
Information on all participants and original tracks can be found here: https://bauhaus100.uni-weimar.de/de/projekt/audio-walk/
The »Where is Walter?« audio walk is supported by funds from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s ‘Bauhaus100’ kick-start fund
If you have any questions, please contact Astrid Drechsler and Fabian Kühlein:
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Professorship of Experimental Radio
Email: astrid.drechsler[at]uni-weimar.de
Tel: +49 (0) 36 43 / 58 38 92 or
fabian.kuehlein-zelger[at]uni-weimar.de
Tel: +49 (0) 36 43 / 58 38 91.