Robin Schuldenfrei & T'ai Smith on Bauhaus100

Smart Lecture

Robin Schuldenfrei & T'ai Smith on Bauhaus100

Lecture
-
CWAC 157
Add to Calendar 2019-05-20 17:00:00 2019-05-20 19:00:00 Robin Schuldenfrei & T'ai Smith on Bauhaus100 American art historians Robin Schuldenfrei (The Courtauld Institute) and T'ai Smith (University of British Columbia) will give lectures to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus: T’ai Smith, "Bauhaus Trends" Over the past century, “the Bauhaus”—as idea, as style, as mode of design practice, as network of affiliated actors—has come in and out of fashion. Though the school’s pedagogical program sought to delineate a universal form of progress, by following its modish cycles, we discover the temporal logic of the trend. This investigation will examine the method of trend forecasting (and the concomitant notion of “the future”) that emerged during the 1920s, aiming to unpack the contradictory models of time and history that the Bauhaus generated. T'ai Smith is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver). Smith received her PhD from the Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester. In addition to her teaching and advising role in the department, she is a core member of the Group for Media Research in the Faculty of Arts at UBC. Concerned with the politics of mediation, gender, labor, and economy, Smith’s research, teaching, and advising focus on the areas of modern and contemporary European and American art and design, visual studies, critical theory, media theory and cultural techniques. Robin Schuldenfrei, "Bauhaus Reproducibility and the Case of Moholy-Nagy's Photograms" At the core of Bauhaus instructor László Moholy-Nagy’s practice he experimented with the ways in which reproductive techniques could be productive for art and for the development of prototypes for the mass production of objects—issues that were of upmost concern to artists, designers and students at the Bauhaus. This lecture centers on Moholy’s initially-unique photograms, which, re-photographed, resulted in the creation of negatives and enlargements; it contextualizes modernism’s ideas of production and reproduction, the materiality of objects and abstract image surface, and complicates formulations of the work of art in the age of its technical reproducibility. Robin Schuldenfrei is the Katja and Nicolai Tangen Lecturer in 20th Century Modernism at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. She received her doctorate from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and previously held positions at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Robin Schuldenfrei’s research and teaching focuses on the history and theory of European and American modern architecture and design. CWAC 157 Department of Art History drupal@seastar.uchicago.edu America/Chicago public
Joost Schmidt, “der bauhaus tapete gehört die zukunft” (The Future Belongs to Bauhaus Wallpaper), 1931

American art historians Robin Schuldenfrei (The Courtauld Institute) and T'ai Smith (University of British Columbia) will give lectures to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus:

T’ai Smith, "Bauhaus Trends"

Over the past century, “the Bauhaus”—as idea, as style, as mode of design practice, as network of affiliated actors—has come in and out of fashion. Though the school’s pedagogical program sought to delineate a universal form of progress, by following its modish cycles, we discover the temporal logic of the trend. This investigation will examine the method of trend forecasting (and the concomitant notion of “the future”) that emerged during the 1920s, aiming to unpack the contradictory models of time and history that the Bauhaus generated.

T'ai Smith is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver). Smith received her PhD from the Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester. In addition to her teaching and advising role in the department, she is a core member of the Group for Media Research in the Faculty of Arts at UBC. Concerned with the politics of mediation, gender, labor, and economy, Smith’s research, teaching, and advising focus on the areas of modern and contemporary European and American art and design, visual studies, critical theory, media theory and cultural techniques.

Robin Schuldenfrei, "Bauhaus Reproducibility and the Case of Moholy-Nagy's Photograms"

At the core of Bauhaus instructor László Moholy-Nagy’s practice he experimented with the ways in which reproductive techniques could be productive for art and for the development of prototypes for the mass production of objects—issues that were of upmost concern to artists, designers and students at the Bauhaus. This lecture centers on Moholy’s initially-unique photograms, which, re-photographed, resulted in the creation of negatives and enlargements; it contextualizes modernism’s ideas of production and reproduction, the materiality of objects and abstract image surface, and complicates formulations of the work of art in the age of its technical reproducibility.

Robin Schuldenfrei is the Katja and Nicolai Tangen Lecturer in 20th Century Modernism at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. She received her doctorate from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and previously held positions at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Robin Schuldenfrei’s research and teaching focuses on the history and theory of European and American modern architecture and design.