“Bauhaus & Beyond: A Global, Postcolonial Perspective”
Objective: The Fellowship explores the immaterial heritage of the Bauhaus and its multi-transactional postcolonial reflections across the globe. There is a scope to develop an active network of new generation ‘Bauhaus Scholars’ that expand their existing research by sharing methods and approaches, and act as a catalyst for connecting across multi-disciplinary fields.
Research Question: What is the immaterial heritage of the Bauhaus? How do these ideas, approaches and knowledge travel across the globe?
Synopsis:
At the meta level, Bauhaus is a movement that has inspired generations to think outside of the box and interpret knowledge in one’s own context. Studying the postcolonial discourse and multi-transactional exchange on art, architecture, and design is a unique opportunity to develop a global research perspective at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
The academic research on Bauhaus and its global connections has so far touched only limited institutions. There is scope to trace the indirect influences of Bauhaus knowledge and inverse ideas by connecting the dots between the Bauhauslers and their firstgeneration students who scattered across the globe to carry forward and shape the legacy. This shall help to renew the continued Bauhaus interactions from a multi-cultural perspective.
It is interesting to study the aspect of ‘History of ideas’ as a discipline and converse postcolonial transactions in diverse countries, to draw parallels, and to renew the existing studies of global influence of the Bauhaus. Building on existing research at our university, the proposed research project shall cover the lesser-known narratives on the Bauhaus – transactions of knowledge and methods – in varied contexts (For e.g., how did ideas, methods and practices influence the Bauhaus and vice versa). The different ways to conceive information for this topic is one of our key aspirations. The fact that there is already a plethora of material available related to the global influence of the Bauhaus in many countries - showcases the interest and necessity to explore it further. The study and analysis are proposed in three-fold aspects a) catalogue existing studies and material, b) explore the potential to renew and reconsider the legacy, c) collaboratively search, conceive and present new research questions.
The project shall primarily focus on setting up an International Network, as a platform to ideate, discuss and analyze the journey of the Bauhaus through an interdisciplinary approach. It will greatly benefit from the individual approaches of its members from diverse fields (Art, Architecture, Global History, Heritage Conservation, etc.). This will enable us to work on understanding the similarities in practice, ideas, and methods for disseminating knowledge related to the heritage of the Bauhaus. In addition, it shall be a good opportunity to test a new way of teaching, research, and methods transfer amongst the research group. The new way of teaching combines historical and artistic practices to explore ways of communicating immaterial heritage. For instance, re-enactment presents a method for deconstructing the iconography of Bauhaus’s immaterial heritage from a cultural perspective. In so doing, it critically researches the chosen methods, asking what it is, why are researchers doing it, how it can be used as a tool to disseminate knowledge and to analyze historical narratives. In addition, video snippets of invited speakers and a short commentary through a webpage will engage related minds and give the right momentum for setting up an international network.
- Pappal Suneja, PhD Scholar, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Zeitraum: November 2022 - October 2023
Finanzierung: 39.100 €