The Bauhaus and Product Design

The Bauhaus introduced the following aspects to the world of art and design:

• Redefining human existence according to new ideals and possibilities
• Introducing aesthetics into the world of necessity
• Scientific approach to the visual
• Taking charge of new perspectives with artistic esteem
• Merging architecture, sculpture, painting, and the crafts, creating industrial design as a discipline
• Working with the nature of materials
• Independent thinking, based in reason
• Designing aesthetically for mass production
• Connecting the arts through theatre
• Natural sciences


Discussion and workbook assignment:

Reflecting on the points listed above and your notes, ask yourself what the Bauhaus might do today if it were still around. Write down your thoughts and collect images on the following considerations:

1. What would it take to redefine human existence according to new ideals and possibilities today? What things do we know today that are still untouched by aesthetics, and how might they be tackled by the Bauhaus?
2. What do we have today that would be as revolutionary to the world of art and design as the natural sciences were back then, and what could we gain from that?
3. Where do all the arts come together today?
4. If we were thinking independently, and based in reason, refusing convention, what kind of world would we designers of today need to idealize?