an exhibition by participants of the Bauhaus Lab 2016 (Leah Hsiao, Aleksandra Kędziorek, Thomas Lehner, Joana Pardal, Achim Reese, Madelaine Sillfors, Stefania Strouza, Lia Tostes), Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, 4.08–4.12.2016
How can a heavy cherrywood desk tell a story of exile and migration? Designed as a part of the 1923 Bauhaus exhibition in Weimar, then moved to Dessau into a modern architecture environment, and transitioned in Lincoln, Massachusetts into the domestic setting of the children’s room, the Gropius’s desk became an actor in the complex history of the Bauhaus exile. In contrast to the ageless replicas in Weimar and Dessau, the broken ribbon and missing glass shelves of the original give evidence of its different lives, locations and challenging moving logistics.
Looking through the lens of the object, the Bauhaus Lab 2016 investigated the changing conditions of exile: an object lesson on modern modes of migrations and settlings that provokes questions about their contemporary relevance.
Head of the program: Regina Bittner, management: Katja Szymczak
More about Bauhaus Lab 2016: Desk in Exile on the website of Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.
The exhibition took place in the anteroom of the Director’s Room in the historic Bauhaus building in Dessau. The opening was accompanied by Talks around the desk – a conversation between Marion von Osten, Judith Winter, Regina Göckede, Magnus Englund and the participants of the Bauhaus Lab 2016. Bauhaus Taschenbuch, summarizing the project, was released in 2017.
Aleksandra Kędziorek 