Projects of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Thuringia, represented by the State Chancellery of Thuringia, Department of Culture and the Arts.
In cooperation with the MFA degree programme “Public Art and New Artistic Strategies” at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Walter Benjamin’s famous 9th historical thesis, which he jotted down while fleeing from the National Socialists in 1939, forms the basis for all the presented projects in this year’s annual programme at the Bauhaus Museum Weimar. In this thesis, Benjamin interpreted Paul Klee’s painting of “Angelus Novus” (1920, watercolour, ink and oil chalk on paper, currently owned by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem), as the “Angel of History”. Walter Benjamin, whose 130th anniversary we celebrate in 2022, was one of the most influential philosophers, translators and cultural critics of the 20th century. He inspired a generation of graphic artists, filmmakers, writers and musicians with his distinctively linguistic translations. For many artists, Benjamin’s famous interpretation created new contexts for addressing the transformative potential of the fine arts, questions of history, and current political and social developments.
In a production workshop at the Bauhaus Museum Weimar in the summer semester 2022, students of the international “Public Art and New Artistic Strategies” MFA degree programme will develop supplementary interventions and performative projects on the topic of cultural translation in the spirit of Walter Benjamin.
A film programme, curated in close cooperation with the MFA degree programme, will present feature films and documentaries that explore Walter Benjamin’s famous interpretation of the “Angel of History” and his view on the theme of cultural translation.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue of works by the participating artists which introduces the conceptual approach of the MFA degree programme. The authors of the catalogue include Katharina Henkel (curator, Hannover); Marius Hoppe, research assistant in the area of Bauhaus-Modernism-Contemporary Art (Klassik Stiftung Weimar); and Danica Dakic, professor and head of the MFA degree programme “Public Art and New Artistic Strategies” (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar).
Projects of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Thuringia, represented by the State Chancellery of Thuringia, Department of Culture and the Arts.