Pedagogies of unrest
May 13–August 11, 2024
Dessau-Roßlau 06846
Germany
Hours: Monday–Sunday 10am–5pm
T +49 340 6508250
service@bauhaus-dessau.de
Few vestiges remain of the short-lived Institut de l’Environnement, established in Paris in 1969 in the immediate aftermath of the closure of the Ulm School of Design. Claude Schnaidt, who headed the Building Department in Ulm and later became a dedicated supporter of the Bauhaus in the GDR, took over the management of the institute, which saw itself as a multidisciplinary education and research centre. Teachers and students, designers and scholars, practitioners and theorists worked together here to do justice to the complexity of the ecological crises that had begun to enter the public consciousness in the countries of the global north. In the heated climate of student protests, the institute was to become a model of pedagogical renewal in the name of the emerging field of environmental design. With the growing awareness of the threats to the environment, the institute also aspired to redefine the role of architects and designers.
The 2024 edition of the Bauhaus Lab programme in Global Modernism Studies seeks to relate this pedagogical experiment to the current search for an environmentally and socially just design education. The programme participants examine the history of this school, mapping out its far-reaching networks of actors, knowledge cultures and political contexts. They explore the varied and oftentimes conflicting ways in which “the environment” was conceptualised at the institute, the methods of teaching and research that derived from these conceptions, and their permanent reassessment both in the everyday life of this unique place of learning and thinking, and beyond.
About the Bauhaus Lab
The Bauhaus Lab is a three-month research programme for scholars and practitioners in the fields of art, architecture, design, curating, and related disciplines. Participation is free of charge, and all participants are given 24/7 access to workspaces in the Bauhaus Building. Participants will also receive a daily allowance of 24 EUR. The programme includes field trips (within Germany/Europe); the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation will cover travel and accommodation costs for these excursions. The process of collective research will culminate in an exhibition presented in the Bauhaus Building. Participants are expected to be present on site for the entire duration of the programme, to contribute to the collective research and to meet regularly with the programme organisers for follow-up and feedback. The programme will be conducted in English.
Call for applications
The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation welcomes applications for the programme. To apply, please send a CV, a portfolio, and a letter of interest (in English) to Dr Regina Bittner, head of the programme, by January 14, 2024: lab [at] bauhaus-dessau.de. All application documents should submitted as a single PDF file; documents with file sizes exceeding 10MB should best be shared via download link.
The selection process consists of two stages: First, an international jury will select a number of applications to be shortlisted; these candidates will then be invited to Zoom interviews with the head of the programme. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by February 1, 2024 and interviews will take place shortly thereafter.
Questions regarding the application and selection process, as well as the programme itself, can be directed to the email address mentioned above. We particularly welcome applications from candidates with profiles that have hitherto been marginalised in academic and cultural institutions of the global north. The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation will endeavour to assist with visa formalities for applicants from outside the Schengen area.
