DESSAU-ROSSLAU.- The Bauhaus Museum Dessau opened today. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Dr Claudia Perren, Director and CEO of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel, Dr Reiner Haseloff, Prime Minister of Sachsen-Anhalt, and Peter Kuras, Lord Mayor of the City of Dessau-Roßlau, the doors to the exhibition Versuchsstätte Bauhaus. The Collection officially opened on 8 September 2019 at 12.30 pm.

"We are happy to be able to present the Bauhaus Museum Dessau to the public after just under two and a half years of construction," says Dr Claudia Perren, Director and CEO of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. "Due to the uniqueness of our collection, we want to tell the story of the Bauhaus School in Dessau. There is no single image that can convey the heterogeneous and multi-faceted history of the Bauhaus. In our museum, our goal is to visualize the search movements that show how art and design could attain social relevance in this uncertain terrain around 1926. We understand them as an encouragement."

The Bauhaus experienced its most successful period in Dessau. "The avantgarde school had a very strong influence on our everyday culture - I would say as strong as no other school," says Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel. The Bauhauslers wanted to interfere - their artistic and craftsmanship was about social relevance. I hope that the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and its staff will keep the special spirit of the Bauhaus alive."

After two and a half years of construction, the Bauhaus Museum Dessau opened its doors to visitors on 8 September 2019. Now for the first time the new building by the Barcelona-based firm addenda architects allows the full range of the collection of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation to be presented and seen.

Located on the museum’s upper floor, the so-called Black Box provides an ideal space for showcasing the collection. At over 49,000 objects, this is the second largest Bauhaus collection worldwide. The first purchase was made in 1976 when the Bauhaus Building was reopened as “Wissenschaftlich- Kulturelles Zentrum” in the former GDR. Since then, new objects have regularly been added. Student works, teaching notes, drafts and prototypes from the workshops in particular define the character of the collection.

More than 1,000 exhibits are on display as part of the exhibition Versuchsstätte Bauhaus. The Collection at the Bauhaus Museum Dessau. They tell the story of the famous school, its students and the daily reality of learning and teaching between the poles of creative design and industrial prototype production, artistic experiment and economic pressure, educational institution and emancipatory aspiration.

The opening of the Bauhaus Museum Dessau is embedded in a city festival with an extensive programme in and around the museum. Admission to the museum is free for all visitors on 8, 9 and 10 September 2019.