Towards a Future Past: The New and the European in the Bauhaus

What does it mean to ‘rescue’ a modernist project like the Bauhaus to envision a future? The pedagogical emphasis of the Bauhaus, which sat at the core of its approach to society and the role aesthetic and design practices could play in this, was one premised on learning through making, interdisciplinary practices and design as an enabler, not just mirror, of socio-cultural aspirations and ambitions. What is striking over a century later is how this alternative model of education continues to be espoused as the future. Recent publications, such as Bauhaus Imaginista (2019), trace the impact of the Bauhaus’ socio-cultural approach and aesthetic across the world, emphasising its enduring international legacy. In the realm of inclusion, however, recent texts signal the limitations of the Bauhaus’ vision. Artists such as Anni Albers were sidelined into departments ‘appropriate’ for their gender, and the school was supported and bore close relation to the nation-state via its funding and staffing. This paper will reflect on the ways that the ‘old’ Bauhaus has become used as a symbol, and what critical reflections and distance the New European Bauhaus might need to take from its modernist referent. This consideration will focus on the issues of gender inclusion within the Bauhaus’ otherwise radical educational structure.