BAUHAUS AND CREATIVITY

BAUHAUS AND CREATIVITY
Chicago

Celebrating Chicago’s design tradition of experimentation and “making as thinking”, the immersion took place during the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus. In a time of ambiguity and constant change, we modeled the experience after the experimental ethos of Bauhaus, and invited participants to become collaborators.

The immersion primed the release of The New Bauhaus feature documentary which tells the story of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and the founding of the original school. Architect John Ronan gave a personal tour of the new IIT Institute of Design and participants saw sneak peeks of the film at Leo Burnett and EXPO Chicago prior to the film’s release. Our sponsors, Designtex, presented textiles reproduced from the designs of famous Bauhaus weavers.

We traversed studios and exhibition spaces of artists directly influenced by the Bauhaus like Luftwerk and Jan Tichy; saw Tichy’s Moholy-Nagy projections on the facade of the Merchandise Mart; had breakfast with Mies Van der Rohe’s grandson, Dirk Lohan, and Patrick Whitney at their Mies apartment building on Lakeshore Drive. We discussed the fundamental nature of collaboration with artist Antonia Contro and explored new ways of applying design to solving social problems and creating local creative ecosystems at Boxville shipping container marketplace on the South Side, where we enjoyed a Bauhaus-inspired experiential meal.

The basic idea of the New Bauhaus education is that everyone is talented.
László Moholy-Nagy

Not the product, but the human, is the end in sight.
László Moholy-Nagy

Creative practice for me is not just about making an image or an object but about all the research, experiences, encounters, and thinking that lead to the artistic output, the thing.
Antonia Contro, artist