10/20/2014 Notes on the Formation of the Imaginist Bauhaus

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Publishedasaleafletin
Italyin1956andin
Eristica#2Bollettino
d'Informazionedel
MovementoInternazionale
perunaBauhaus
Immaginista.Translated
byKenKnabbandtaken
fromSituationist
InternationalAnthology,
BureauOfPublicSecrets,
1981
NotesontheFormationoftheImaginistBauhaus
AsgerJorn
WhatwastheBauhaus?
TheBauhauswasananswertothequestion:What"education"doartists
needinordertotaketheirplaceinthemachineage?
HowwastheBauhausidearealized?
Itwasrealizedwitha"school"inGermany,firstatWeimar,thenatDessau.
FoundedbythearchitectWalterGropiusin1919,itwasdestroyedbythe
Nazisin1933.
WhatistheInternationalMovementforanImaginistBauhaus?
ItistheanswertothequestionWHEREANDHOWtofindajustifiedplace
forartistsinthemachineage.Thisanswerdemonstratesthattheeducation
carriedoutbytheoldBauhauswasmistaken.
HowhastheideaofanInternationalMovementforanImaginistBauhaus
beenrealized?
TheMovementwasfoundedinSwitzerlandin1953asatendencyaimedat
formingaunitedorganizationcapableofpromotinganintegral
revolutionaryculturalattitude.In1954theexperienceoftheAlbissola
gatheringdemonstratedthatexperimentalartistsmustgetholdofindustrial
meansandsubjectthemtotheirownnonutilitarianends.In1955an
imaginistlaboratorywasfoundedatAlba.ConclusionoftheAlbissola
experience:completeinflationarydevaluationofmodernvaluesof
decoration(cf.ceramicsproducedbychildren).In1956theAlbaCongress
dialecticallydefinesunitaryurbanism.In1957theMovementpromulgates
thewatchwordofpsychogeographicalaction.
Whatwewant
Wewantthesameeconomicandpracticalmeansandpossibilitiesthatare
alreadyatthedisposalofscientificresearch,ofwhosemomentousresults
everyoneisaware.
Artisticresearchisidenticalto"humanscience,"whichforusmeans
"concerned"science,notpurelyhistoricalscience.Thisresearchshouldbe
carriedoutbyartistswiththeassistanceofscientists.
Thefirstinstituteeverformedforthispurposeistheexperimental
laboratoryforfreeartisticresearchfounded29September1955atAlba.
Suchalaboratoryisnotaninstructionalinstitutionitsimplyoffersnew
possibilitiesforartisticexperimentation.
TheleadersoftheoldBauhausweregreatmasterswithexceptional
talents,buttheywerebadteachers.Thepupils'workswereonlypious
imitationsoftheirmasters.Therealinfluenceofthelatterwasindirect,by
forceofexample:RuskinonVandeVelde,VandeVeldeonGropius.
Thisisnotatallacriticism,itissimplyarecognitionofreality,fromwhich
thefollowingconclusionsmaybedrawn:Thedirecttransferofartisticgifts
10/20/2014 Notes on the Formation of the Imaginist Bauhaus
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isimpossibleartisticadaptationtakesplacethroughaseriesof
contradictoryphases:ShockWonderImitationRejection
ExperimentationPossession.
Noneofthesephasescanbeavoided,thoughtheyneednotallbegone
throughbyanyoneindividual.
Ourpracticalconclusionisthefollowing:weareabandoningalleffortsat
pedagogicalactionandmovingtowardexperimentalactivity.
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