Lecture: "Germany and Austria: Bauhaus and the Dream of the New Man"

At the beginning of the 20th century, Germany and Austria set the tone in the conversation about design. Bauhaus sought to unite art, craft, and industry to create a new person and a new way of life. The utopian dream of simplicity and rationality became the central project of the era.

However, design quickly became intertwined with politics. The Third Reich used form and style as tools of propaganda, while the post-war Ulm School tried to restore humanism and rationality to design, now free of ideological dogma.

In the lecture, we will discuss:

🔺 Why Bauhaus is still considered a myth and a symbol of "pure" design,
🔺 How objects can embody political utopias and nightmares,
🔺 And why post-war Germany once again placed its bet on design as the language of progress?