Visions of modernity today

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, the exhibition "Visions of Modernity Today" at the Museum of Photography Braunschweig, opening on April 13, explores the theme of Bauhaus architecture within contemporary artistic photography. The works of international artists establish historical connections, both to the buildings themselves and to the photography of the period.

The significance of the Bauhaus (1919-1933) as a visionary architectural, design, socio-cultural, and cultural-historical movement of early 20th-century modernism is evident not only in the diverse engagement with architecture or in the fields of furniture and product design, and the enduring interest in the formal language of classic Bauhaus designs. The perception and metaphorical interpretation of Bauhaus architecture and its precursors also emerges as a conceptually complex theme in contemporary artistic photography. Even at the Bauhaus, photography, alongside its documentary function, held particular importance as an independent artistic medium, serving as an appropriate means of expression for translating the perception of the New Building movement and the 'visions of modernism'.

The exhibition presents diverse visual concepts through which artists in the field of photography explore the multifaceted aspects of modernist architecture from individual perspectives. Alongside contemporary examples, vintage photographs from the Bauhaus era, such as those by Lucia Moholy, by anonymous photographers, and of buildings in Tel Aviv will be on display. This allows for a comparison of the respective imaging techniques and concepts. The photographic works, which are based on different visual languages ​​and, through their juxtaposition, also permit iconographic comparisons, focus on Bauhaus-era architecture as well as precursor buildings such as Walter Gropius's Fagus Factory in Alfeld or other modernist structures like Bruno Taut's Onkel Tom's Hütte housing estate in Berlin. Furthermore, some works also reference later buildings by modernist architects—for example, the White City in Tel Aviv or Le Corbusier's famous church in Ronchamp.

The exhibition features photographic works and works incorporating photography by
Georg Brückmann (*1977, D), Frauke Dannert (*1979, D), Günther Förg (1952-2013), Owen Gump (*1980, USA), Margret Hoppe (*1981, D), Irmel Kamp (*1937, D), Lucia Moholy (1894-1989, AT/CH), Anonymous photographs of Bauhaus architecture (1930s), Itzhak Kalter (1903-1997, P/ISR), Kocheisen + Hullmann (*1954/1956, D), Christof Klute (*1966, D), Heidi Specker (*1962, D), Anett Stuth (*1965, D), Hiroshi Sugimoto (*1948, J)

Program 

Symposium accompanying the exhibition: 18th/19 May 2019
Supported by the Wüstenrot Foundation on the weekend of International Museum Day

Excursions to Weimar and Alfeld

Satellite project in Berlin:
“Future Spaces // Christof Klute & Frauke Dannert”
March 25 – April 5, 2019, Opening: March 26, 2019, 19:00 pm

How do contemporary artists and photographers view the Bauhaus? What formal aspects, and which architectural and design visions of this cultural-historical movement, continue to resonate today? The group exhibition "Visions of Modernism" at the Museum of Photography in Braunschweig explores these questions in April. To coincide with the exhibition, Christof Klute and Frauke Dannert photographed the UNESCO World Heritage Site Fagus Factory in Alfeld (Leine), offering a fresh perspective on Walter Gropius's first building. The photographs will premiere at the State Representation in Berlin and will subsequently be displayed on Bauhaus-themed wallpaper throughout the four office floors of the State Representation.
Location: State Representation of Lower Saxony, In den Ministergärten 10, 10117 Berlin