"Breakfast at Bauhaus" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Dear Ricarda Lindner,
Consul Arie Sommer,
Mrs. Bärbel Grönegres,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to be at the Museum of Modern Art, a most appropriate setting for today’s “Breakfast at Bauhaus”.
Let me begin with the end of the Bauhaus movement. Allow me this start from the end as today marks the annual international Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust proclaimed by the UN in 2005.
It is a special day for Israel and the Jewish community, for the United States and the international community. And it is a day of particular significance for Germany where in many cities and communities ceremonies are dedicated to the historical responsibility for this unparalleled collapse of all civilized values and the systematic murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others carried out in the name of Germany. We are separated by guilt.
Yet, I am grateful that what matters today is not what separates us, but is what unites us. We are united in our conviction of “never again”, in preserving the memory of the past and in the common responsibility for a shared, more just, tolerant and humane future.
The Bauhaus movement may also be seen as a bond that in many ways unites us – Germany, Israel and the United States. In the mid 1930ies, many Bauhaus artists were forced to leave Nazi-Germany and found refuge in Palestine and in the US where they shaped the architectural approaches. Arieh Sharon, a leading Bauhaus architect in Israel, even entitled one of his books “Kibbutz and Bauhaus”. And famous Bauhaus teachers rose to prominence in Harvard and founded the “New Bauhaus” in Chicago in 1937.
No doubt that discovering Bauhaus architecture and art in such attractive cities such as Chicago, New York, Berlin and Weimar, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem provides for an amazing cultural and touristic tour.
But the Bauhaus was also the result of political developments: it had immense political implications which have in no way subsided and still today generate debates among supporters and critics alike.
Weimar was not only the original home of the Bauhaus movement. In 1918, Weimar also became the birthplace of the first real-life-practiced liberal-democratic Constitution of Germany. The development of the Bauhaus unfolded more or less in tandem with the history of the first Weimar Republic. In a period of immense technological advancement this liberal constitution opened a 14-year period of tremendous creativity and ingenuity in modern German history.
It was against this background that in 1919 Walter Gropius emphasized “the necessity of an intellectual change” - his version – if you allow me this daring reflection - of “change” and “yes we can”.
The famous Bauhaus-credo: “Form follows function” specifically includes the understanding of using minimal resources. An economy of means and a reduction in terms of resources is also a key element of today’s political agenda. Enhancing “green architecture”, “eco-design” and energy efficiency are most pressing issues of our times.
The Bauhaus also stands for the integration of art and design into nearly every aspect of society. It advocated overcoming the distinction between artist and craftsman, between the “fine arts” and the “applied arts”. And in its most radical approach it even postulated abolishing the distinction between teacher and student. Essentially it called for broad pro-active and creative participation - the way it seems so natural for us today spreading our views and ideas in the internet, on webpages and blogs. Back in 1919 the Bauhaus movement generated a modern, a revolutionary philosophy in a year where in the political sphere – not coincidentally – women were also granted the right to vote for the first time.
As a final thought: the Bauhaus symbolized the integration of all different art fields - architecture, sculpture, painting and crafts – taking into account the physical, social and economic, artistic and environmental aspects. It foreshadowed the growing interdependence of rapid industrialisation, which has tremendously increased in today’s global and technologically advanced world, not only in housing and urban development, but far beyond.
As with any new reform the Bauhaus was not undisputed. Nonetheless, the ideal advocated by the Bauhaus then still holds true today. In the words of Walter Gropius: “architecture must serve to meet man’s need”. Today, we are still facing many of the same challenges. The legacy of the Bauhaus – its richness in design and teaching as well as its contradictions in achieving its own ideals - are still inspiring for the arts as well as for political life.
Thank you.
