This year, Germany and Israel are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations. For the Bauhaus Foundation Dessau, this marks an occasion to reflect on the idea of collective building and thus the relationship between Bauhaus and Israel in a symposium on 16 October 2015. The entry is free.
The symposium is broken down into three panel discussions with related content. The first panel deals with the role of the architect using the example of Arieh Sharon under the title "Kibbutz and Bauhaus"– From a Student of the Bauhaus to he Architect of Israel" (with Zvi Efrat (Tel Aviv), Ines Sonder (Potsdam) and Michael Levin (Ramat Gan)). In 1926, Arieh Sharon came to the Bauhaus Dessau as a young Zionist to study architecture under Walter Gropius. From Palestine/Israel, he brought a lot of experience with him, about living in a community from the kibbutz movement. In 1927, he met Hannes Meyer, who understood architecture as building for the community, in the construction department of the Bauhaus. After his time in Dessau and Berlin, he went back to Palestine in 1931 and took over the leadership of the National Planning Department in Jerusalem, after the foundation of the state of Israel. His autobiographical, synoptic book “Kibbutz+Bauhaus” was published in 1976. This book is the starting point for the first discussion round of the symposium.
In panel 2 Winfried Brenne (Berlin) and Jeremie Hoffmann (Tel Aviv) discuss "Selected Projects in Tel Aviv, Dessau and Bernau". This panel discussion focuses on architects for concrete building projects in Germany and Israel. Four structures are examined which, in formal terms, are very similar but very different in their cultural, social and economic contexts. An architectural debate that spans the historical building process through to issues related to landmark preservation today.
Panel discussion 3 focusses on "Tel Aviv and Bauhaus. The Collective Society between Urbanity and the Kibbutz" (with Gisela Dachs (Tel Aviv), Ines Sonder (Potsdam), Winfried Brenne (Berlin), Sharon Golan (Tel Aviv), Jeremie Hoffmann (Tel Aviv), Ines Weizman (Weimar) and Zvi Efrat (Tel Aviv).The urbanisation of Israel is characterised by contradictions up to the present day. The "black" Tel Aviv (Sharon Rotbard) vs. the internationally exalted "White City", the Zionist history of the city's formation with the focus on community and collective vs. the protests against the socio-political grievances in the summer of 2011. The closing panel offers a platform for sharing personal experiences and individual predictions. What is the significance of the collectives of new building in Palestine/Israel in light of privatisation, real estate speculation, sub-urbanisation and "museumisation"?
The symposium will be followed by a book presentation: "Carmel. International Style in Haifa".
In the afternoon we offer a trip to the Balcony Access Houses by Hannes Meyer, fee EUR 4.00, registration at service [at] bauhaus-dessau [dot] de by 1 October.
For more information and the complete symposium programme, please go to Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.