May 31–June 2, 2019
Application deadline: December 31, 2018
“Architecture which encompasses our entire lives.”
–Walter Gropius
How can architecture be newly developed from its very foundations? This is the question the members of the Bauhaus asked themselves exactly a century ago and this issue has remained a repeated subject for discussion up to the present day. On the occasion of the centenary of the Bauhaus Dessau in 2019, this institution will be examining to what extent architectural radicalism remains topical in our time at the Festival Architecture RADICAL. What fundamentals would be necessary in our day and age to redesign architectures, permitting them to unleash a global impact equal to the effect of the Bauhaus constructions in their time?
In the summer of 2019, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation will invite individuals to attend the Festival Architecture RADICAL, which is one element of the three-part Festival Bauhaus Dessau consisting of School FUNDAMENTAL, Architecture RADICAL and Stage TOTAL. These festivals are taking place to mark the centenary of the birth of the Bauhaus.
The historical Bauhaus was active within the fields of radical utopia, social visions and social reality. The objective of the Bauhaus in Dessau as a School of Design was to renew everyday life through contemporary design. The Bauhaus buildings were therefore more than mere architecture; envisaged as complete works, they represented tangible prototypes of modern life with which the Bauhaus astonished—and sometimes—shocked its contemporaries. And today, Bauhaus architecture is frequently only cited within a stylistic context while its constructed motivation and progressive concepts are fading into oblivion. Certain radical aspects which were then conceived and realised are today considered to be standard. Others were discarded, but many concepts continued to be further developed as they remain modern even after 100 years. This is the focal point of the Festival Architecture RADICAL.
Invitation to students possessing design utopias
Students from all creative disciplines who see construction and architecture as a utopian task are invited to apply with their concepts of radical newly motivated architecture with a written and illustrated personal statement (poster). The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2018.
From all applications, 100 students will be selected to take part in three intensive festival days at the Bauhaus in Dessau from May 31 to June 2, 2019. In groups of ten students, each accompanied by one of the ten invited renowned architects—atelier le balto (Berlin), Sam Chermayeff (Berlin), Frida Escobedo (Mexico City), Donatella Fioretti (Berlin), Andrés Jaque (Barcelona), Anupama Kundoo (Madrid/Pondicherry), Jürgen Mayer H. (Berlin), Ippolito Pestellini (Rotterdam), Philippe Rahm (Zurich), Umschichten (Stuttgart)—the students work in workshops with lectures and open space conferences, think and design, live and celebrate together in an atmosphere that creates space for visions and utopias. At the end of the festival, the ideas developed in the workshops and selected application posters will be exhibited and awarded prizes.
The headquarters of the festival will be located in the historical Employment Office designed by Walter Gropius, which will become the Office for radical contemporary design during the three-day festival. A further experience venue will be the open stage at the then not yet opened contemporary Bauhaus Museum Dessau. The open call winners will experience the highly varied programme points of the festival in both locations, for example the Signature Architectures with which the renowned architects will transform the festival locations into a discussion landscape alongside screenings of historical and contemporary architectural films and performances.
To learn more about the festival or the selection process you may contact the festival team (Werner Möller, Kathrin Luz, Josipa Spehar): festivalarchitektur@bauhaus-dessau.de
More information on the festivals, and the Centenary at Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in general, can be found on our website.