In this session, we will dive into the Bauhaus Film and Performance

The Bauhaus school, founded in 1919, is often remembered for the way it pioneered experiments in colour, form, and geometric abstraction—blurring the line between fine art and design, and radically shaping how we understand modern design and architecture today. Although predominantly associated with these fields, this session turns to the Bauhaus’s lesser-known stage and film work.

Drawing on works such as Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet (1922), Kurt Schmidt’s The Mechanical Ballet (1923), and Wassily Kandinsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (1928), we will explore how the dancer’s body is reimagined through geometric abstraction and how the movement of objects becomes a central site for constructing new rhythmic forms. Across these works, the body is transformed into a site of geometry, rhythm, and visual experimentation.

We’ll also discuss short films by artists including Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, Kurt Kranz, and Heinrich Brocksieper. Extending Bauhaus ideas into cinema, these works use light, shape, and motion to develop a visual language beyond narrative.

Through a guided conversation, we will explore a curated selection of clips and images.