Bauhaus was of interest to the media from the outset. Not only for newspapers, photography and radio, but also for the fundamental fact of mediality. Paul Klee referred explicitly, for example, to the fundamental meaning of the word »medium«, by making »atmospheric layer« the subject of discussion, which is situated »between me and you«, that is between artist and object. He saw visual thinking »as the medially between earth and world«. László Moholy-Nagy tackled the artistic appropriation of »all modern means of communication and connection« and focused on the relationship between painting, photography, and film. Over the course of its existence, a fair number of classical media were part of the facilities of the historical Bauhaus - a printing workshop and a bookbinding workshop, but also a theatre and an experimental stage. Interaction with media in this sense was always based on trying out new practices between crafts, material, and aesthesis.
The experimental - that is the specific presumption of the conference - has also been an important source for the emergence of Media Studies-based discourses. Indeed, time and again, in these discourses traces of a reference to the Bauhaus can be found – in the case of Walter Benjamin and Marshall McLuhan, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari as well as Friedrich Kittler.
The conference is being organised by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia Bee, Dr. Simon Frisch, Prof. Dr. Jörg Paulus, Prof. Dr. Henning Schmidgen and Dr. Claudia Tittel. Their shared objective is to reflect more closely on the position of the media in the diverse spectrum of the historic as well as current Bauhaus. In dialogue with contributions from Theatre Studies, Art History, Dance Studies, Literary Research and History of Science, a new image of media-based Bauhaus practices is set to emerge.
The event commences on Wednesday 15 May 2019 at 2pm with a welcome address from the faculty and an introduction by the organisers. This will be followed by interventions from academics from Weimar and across the rest of Germany on five general topic areas: »Intermedia«, »Artistic research«, »The materialism of the hand«, »Bodies and design« as well as »Paperwork«.
The full programme can be found here.
The conference is aimed at an interdisciplinary specialist audience as well as any members of the public interested in the event. If you have any questions regarding the event and its organisation, please contact Marina Heft via marina.heft(at)uni-weimar.de.
»Bauhaus Medien. Praktiken zwischen Handwerk, Material und Aisthesis«
15 to 17 May 2019
Commencing:
15 May 2019, 2pm
Oberlichtsaal in the Main Building of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8, Room 213
Event locations:
Oberlichtsaal, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 8, Room 213; 99423 Weimar
Kleiner Van-de-Velde-Bau (Room HP05), Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 7, 99423 Weimar
Contact:
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Faculty of Media, Media Studies Academic Office
Marina Heft
Bauhausstr. 11, 99423 Weimar
marina.heft(at)uni-weimar.de
Tel.: +49 (0) 36 43/58 37 50