Bauhaus 100: Documentary Film Programme
Accompanying the exhibition „Bauhaus 100: The Print Portfolios“ the National Gallery of Ireland and the Goethe-Institut Irland present a documentary film programme about the Bauhaus and its legacy. The lunchtime screenings take place on Sundays at 12:30 pm in the Lecture Theatre of the National Gallery.
(c) Judith Kaufmann/Marcus Winterbauer
Sunday, 6 October 2019, 12:30 pm
Die Neue Nationalgalerie / The New National Gallery
Dir.: Ina Weisse, b/w, 48 min., Germany 2016-17
The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) in Berlin is a ground-breaking structure by architect and former Bauhaus director Mies van der Rohe.
Fifty years after the opening of the museum in 1968, director Ina Weisse explores the evolution of the legendary building. She is the daughter of the architect Rolf Weisse, who worked at the Chicago office of Mies van der Rohe. The director explores how the Neue Nationalgalerie came into being, as well as the convictions and ideology that van der Rohe's structure brings to the fore, by means of interviews with her father, with van der Rohe's grandson, Dirk Lohan, with the architect commissioned to renovate the building, David Chipperfield, and with many others. In addition to Ina Weisse's interviews and the fascinating visuals of the museum as it was being vacated, the documentary includes previously unreleased footage shot by Rolf Weisse in the sixties in the office of Mies van der Rohe.
(c) Niels Bolbrinker
Sunday, 13 October 2019, 12:30 pm
Bauhaus – Modell und Mythos / Bauhaus – Model and Myth
Dir.: Niels Bolbrinker & Kerstin Sutterheim, colour and b/w, 104 min., Germany 2010
„Bauhaus – Modell and Myth“ presents a picture of this unique institution of artistic modernism; from the revolutionary outburst following the First World War to disbandment, emigration and professional advancement, or, for some Bauhaus artists, becoming entangled in Nazi Germany. It is former Bauhaus students, both male and female, who tell most of the story, recalling these phases in history; their teachers themselves are documented by archive material.
This critical account of the artistic and political objectives of the Bauhaus is perhaps the most comprehensive to be portrayed on film. It provides an insight into the essence of Bauhaus principles, the conflicts which led to the Bauhaus's relocation from Weimar to Dessau, the disbandment of the school during the Nazi period, the construction activity in the young Israeli state, and the emergence of the “Bauhaus myth” in the US.
(c) absolut Medien GmbH
Sunday, 20 October 2019, 12:30 pm
Bauhaus: Bühne und Tanz / Bauhaus: Stage and Dance
Dir.: div., colour and b/w, Germany 2014
Walter Gropius considered a dramatic work for the stage to be an interplay of various disciplines creating an “orchestral unity”, similar to architecture. Due to the structural kinship of both arts, he saw the need for establishing a Bauhaus stage. Here, the basic elements of stage design were to be examined and reformulated. At the centre of the Bauhaus stage was Oskar Schlemmer, who directed the theatre workshop from 1923 to 1929. With his Triadic Ballet and the Bauhaus Dances, he examined the dynamics between figure and space in the abstract and geometric interplay of form, colour, sound, movement and light.
In the works of Lothar Schreyer, Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Kurt Schmidt and Wassily Kandinsky, modern relationships of light, space and movement, characterised by technology, urbanism and mass media, were transferred to the stage. Abstract costumes, light apparatuses and sets became the central protagonists. In this way, the traditional hierarchy between human and technical stage devices was removed.
© strandfilm, Pandora Film Verleih
Sunday, 3 November 2019, 12:30 pm
Haus Tugendhat
Dir: Dieter Reifarth, colour and b/w, 112 min., Germany 2013
Brno, Czech Republic: Slowly, almost reverentially, the camera approaches the simple white facade before gliding through one of the extensive glazed outer walls into the innards of the building. The first minutes of Dieter Reifarth’s documentary „Haus Tugendhat“ are a careful approach to this icon of modern architecture, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Built in 1930 as a family home for the cosmopolitan Jewish family Tugendhat, the villa was threatened by neglect for decades ever since their escape from the Nazis. Dieter Reifarth dedicates his film to both the destiny of the family and the destiny of the house. Thanks to numerous interviews and original documents his film is multi-faceted, but still characterized by minimalist aesthetics.
(c) Filmtank
Sunday, 10 November 2019, 12:30 pm
Vom Bauen der Zukunft - 100 Jahre Bauhaus / Bauhaus Spirit – 100 Years of Bauhaus
Dir.: Niels Bolbrinker, Thomas Tielsch, colour, 90 min., Germany 2017/18
From the outset, the architects and artists of the Bauhaus asked: What does "living together" mean? How can spaces be designed so that all people can can be part of a communal social life?
With Bauhaus, art, design and architecture became political. Bauhaus as a social utopia is the starting point from which the film surveys the movement's evolution, transformation, and power to inspire over the course of the last hundred years.
„Bauhaus Spirit – 100 Years of Bauhaus“ is an eye-opener that takes a look at far more than just construction history. It presents a cultural history of modern spatial thinking that is as enthralling as it is enlightening. The film takes us on an amazing and delightful stroll amidst the spaces and environments of Modernism — a stroll that makes sure that henceforth all shapes and forms are viewed through completely different eyes.
The accompanying cultural programme to the exhibition "Bauhaus 100: The Print Portfolios" also comprises a cine-concert and a lecture series. The programme brochure is available here.
Presented by the National Gallery of Ireland and the Goethe-Institut Irland