On behalf of the environment. Pedagogies of unrest

The Institut de l’Environnement was an interdisciplinary school operating in Paris from 1969 to 1971. It sought to explore the notion of the environment and develop teaching methods suited to the complexity of the concept. Partly a response to the student protests of May ‘68, which called for less pedagogical rigidity, the institute was also a way of attracting teachers from the recently closed Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) in Ulm, thus securing a place for France in the continuing legacy of the Bauhaus. Under the direction of former HfG professor Claude Schnaidt, the institute aspired to become a model of pedagogical renewal and professional training, able to respond to the social demand for environmental design education. It was a place to shape the role of the designer/architect as it emerged in the field in the late 1960s, and to experiment with new forms of transdisciplinary research.

The participants of the Bauhaus Lab 2024 have investigated both the internal activities of the institute and the cultural context of the time. The modular façade of the institute’s building is thereby understood as a necessary membrane of exchange between inside and outside. In the exhibition, the history of the Institut de l’Environnement is presented through a series of situated perspectives of the Bauhaus Lab researchers, interconnected by the question: what is the environment? This question continues to resonate today, allowing for conversations between archival material, personal experiences and contemporary debates.

In a symposium preceding the exhibition opening, the programme participants will discuss the role of socially conscious design, environmental education experiences and teachings with an array of guest speakers, thus assessing the question “What would our Institut de l’Environnement be?” against the backdrop of contemporary practices and perspectives.

On behalf of the environment. Pedagogies of unrest is a collective work developed by an international group of architects, designers, curators and researchers within the framework of the 2024 edition of the Bauhaus Lab programme in Global Modernism Studies. The Bauhaus Lab 2024 participants are: Elena Falomo, Felix Bell, Jie Shen, Louise Mazet, María Paszkiewicz, Or Haklai, Rafael Amato and Teresa Häußler, with the support of Regina Bittner and Philipp Sack (Bauhaus Foundation Dessau Academy).

The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation is a non-profit foundation under public law.