As coordinating university of the BAUHAUS4EU University Alliance, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar – together with six partner universities – received the European Commission’s Seal of Excellence in June 2023. It was awarded to the University Alliance for its proposal within the scope of the »European Universities« initiative. The overarching goal of the University Alliance is to promote the sustainable and inclusive development of European regions.

On Saturday, 10 June 2023, the Gropius Room Pavilion will be handed over to Weimar’s Finnish partner city of Hämeenlinna during an opening ceremony. The Gropius Room Pavilion, which has been travelling around Weimar’s partner cities as an ambassador for the Bauhaus and democracy since 2019, will form part of public life in Hämeenlinna this summer before returning to the founding site of the Bauhaus in mid-August after a journey that has lasted four years. In Weimar, the original director’s room will set up outside the Bauhaus-Museum Weimar to celebrate »100 Years of Bauhaus Exhibition«.

Anlässlich des zehnjährigen Bestehens des Alumnivereins »Europäische Medienkultur« e.V. findet vom 9. bis 11. Juni 2023 erstmalig das EMKultur-Festival in Weimar statt. Ehemalige und derzeitige Studierende des deutsch-französischen Studienganges »Europäische Medienkultur« (EMK) laden Interessierte zu einem interkulturellen Festivalprogramm mit Vorträgen- und Diskussionsrunden, Mitmachaktionen, einer Filmsichtung und mehreren Musikveranstaltungen ein.

On Wednesday, 24 May 2023, Jane Bennett gave her inaugural lecture in the packed Oberlichtsaal at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. We’ve shared some impressions of the evening with the guest professor from the renowned Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore as well as the workshop with her on the following day in the picture gallery below.

Students at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar actively shape the university through committee work and shape the city through various initiatives. Students can submit nominations for this year’s committee elections until 14 May. Elections will be held in June.

Each year, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar announces a new Bauhaus Guest Professor. For the 2023 summer semester, the university will have the privilege of hosting Professor Jane Bennett, who is the Andrew Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, with appointments in the Department of Comparative Thought and Literature and also in the Department of Political Science. The focus of Bennett’s work lies in political theory; her research interests include ecological philosophy, political thought in the United States, political rhetoric and belief, and contemporary social theory.

All over Germany, you can find friends living far away from one another, couples in long-distance relationships and grandparents living far away from their grandchildren. While spending time together in video conferences is a possibility, this form of shared experience has its limits. Social Virtual Reality provides extended potential for these interactions. But how can interactions that foster social intimacy be further improved in virtual spaces? This question is the focal point of the »GROOVE« research project. Together with researchers from the Technischen Universität Ilmenau, Brandenburg Labs GmbH and Consensive GmbH, researchers from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar will be receiving 1.5 million euros in funding over 1.5 years from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Im Oktober 2020 startete an der Professur Marketing und Medien mit »brandY« ein Vorhaben von insgesamt 11 europäischen Hochschulen. Ziel des Projektes war die Konzeption, Testung und Implementierung eines interaktiven Lernprogramms zur internationalen Markenführung. Vom 27. Februar bis 3. März 2023 konnten nun sechs Studierende aus dem Masterstudiengang Medienmanagement in Annecy innerhalb eines Intensivkurses eine erste Version der Anwendung testen und weiterentwickeln.

From 23 March to 1 April 2023, 118 students from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and its European partner universities will take part in the second Bauhaus Spring School. In five courses on architecture and urbanism, media and culture, participants will have the chance to work together intensively on joint projects. This ERASMUS short-term programme began in the 2022/23 winter semester with online courses and will now continue with a ten-day in-person phase in Weimar.

From 1 to 31 March 2023, Hon. Prof. Micky Remann will visit the Thai Chulalangkorn University in Bangkok as a visiting professor. Together with the Asian students, he will develop concepts for 360-degree projections and performances in lectures and exercises.

Single-use plastics have officially been banned in Bangladesh. But they are still part of the urban landscape. Researchers from the »SCIP plastics« project in Bangladesh and Germany, however, are seeking alternatives. Research associate Susanne Kühlewindt reports on this in the third instalment of the research log.

Even if digital communication effortlessly connects continents, it cannot replace personal exchange. Especially when a research team from Germany and Bangladesh is supposed to grow together in order to search for solutions together. The second episode of the research diary »SCIP Plastics« is about the first joint meeting in Bangladesh. Project employees from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), the Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology (CUET) and the Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET) met. Research assistant Senta Berner reports on her impressions.

On 13 September 2022, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini was arrested by the so-called morality police in Tehran for allegedly not wearing her hijab in accordance with government standards. Some days after her arrest, Zhina (Mahsa) Amini died in hospital. Her death was caused by lethal police brutality while in custody.

Research is an abstract concept. But how does it actually happen? What do researchers experience on the way to new knowledge? What challenges do they have to overcome? With diaries, researchers at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar provide us an insight into their projects – so that others can participate in challenging times and the joy of success.

From 20 August to 3 September 2022, 120 participants from almost 50 countries will once again come together on the campus of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar after a lengthy hiatus for the Bauhaus Summer School.

Nora Giuliana Iannone, a Master’s student of architecture, and Massimo Scheidegger, a student from the Bachelor’s programme in Produktdesign, are among the winners of the international »ein&zwanzig« competition with their project »Future Artifact – Charby«. Their design for a planter made of vegetable carbon that binds CO2 is thus one of the total of 21 designs that have been invited to exhibit at the renowned design fair »Salone del Mobile« taking place in Milan from 6 to 12 June 2022.

Im Rahmen der »Thüringer Bachwochen« können Kunst- und Kulturinteressierte vom 10. April bis 01. Mai 2022 ein exklusives Konzert von Johann Sebastian Bach virtuell erleben: Mithilfe von VR-Brillen und Kopfhören wird die Kantate 182 »Himmelskönig, sei Willkommen« in der historischen Schlosskirche Weimar an ihrem Ursprungsort wieder seh- und hörbar. Realisiert wurde das digitale Klang-Projekt unter Beteiligung der Professur Bauphysik an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

The Radio Art Residency Weimar is entering its second year. For the period from April to June 2022, the artist duo from Buenos Aires (Argentina), Florencia Curci and Agustin Genoud, will realise their project »Adapted to air: Collective vocallities for a future sonic forest« in Weimar.

The IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Academy was founded this year during the »IEEE VR 2022« conference with the goal of bringing international scientists from the virtual and augmented reality industry and research field together under one roof. Members of the Academy are recognised for their outstanding achievements and contributions in these fields. Prof. Dr. Bernd Fröhlich, Professor of Virtual Reality Systems in the Faculty of Media at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, was introduced as an inaugural member on 14 March 2022.

From 10 to 19 March 2022, 12 Bauhaus-Universität Weimar students and 93 students from European partner universities will take part in the first Bauhaus Spring School. In five courses on architecture and urbanism, art and design, and media and culture, participants will have the chance to exchange ideas and work together on joint projects. This new European short-term programme began in the 2021/22 winter semester with online courses and will now continue with a ten-day in-person phase in Weimar.