100 Years of Bauhaus – 20 Years of Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv
In 2019 the Bauhaus School in Germany celebrates its 100th anniversary. The Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv is proud to participate with its own exhibition abroad and in Tel Aviv, marking the centenary – and also the 20th anniversary of the Center itself.
100 Years – The History of Bauhaus in Germany & Israel
In 2019, the Bauhaus School in Germany marks its 100th anniversary. Founded by Walter Gropius, and subsequently headed by Hannes Meyer and Mies van der Rohe, this school of design and architecture was closed when the Nazis took power in 1933, and many of its students and teachers left Germany — particularly, although not exclusively, all its Jewish members. In total, under the Nazi regime, approximately 60,000 Jews left Germany for Mandatory Palestine.
Since many, if not most, of these immigrants came from urban backgrounds in Germany, they naturally sought to settle in a city in their new homeland. To accommodate them, thousands of dwellings had to be built in Tel Aviv. Dozens of architects were involved in this huge enterprise, six of whom were former Bauhaus students: Shlomo Bernstein, Munio Gitai-Weinraub, Shmuel Mestechkin, Chanan Frenkel, and Arieh Sharon – the beginning of the White City.
In 2003 the White City of Tel Aviv was declared a World Heritage Site, by virtue of its very large number of modernist Bauhaus buildings that were constructed in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, half of these—around 2,000 buildings—are protected heritage sites.
3 years before the White City of Tel Aviv was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, we established the Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv. The purpose of the center: to promote the architectural heritage of Tel-Aviv. Now in the year 100 of the Bauhaus we are happy to celebrate nearly two decades of publishing, tour-guiding and other activities ourselves.
100 Year Bauhaus Exhibition by Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv
The Tel Aviv Bauhaus Center participates in the 100 Year Bauhaus festivities in Germany with a special exhibition accompanied by a catalogue we edit and publish. The new show was presented for the first time to the German public in September 2018 in the “Alte Synagoge” Essen. The exhibition is presented in several additional venues in NRW in Germany (details on www.bauhaus100-im-westen.de). All exhibitions and festivities of the Bauhaus in Germany are listed on www.bauhaus100.de.
Our own special Bauhaus 100 exhibition was also presented in a Hebrew/English version in the Gallery of the Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv from January 24, 2019.
20 Years of Bauhaus Center Retrospective
During the year of the Bauhaus Centers’ anniversary a “retrospective” art show is planned, with of many of the artists collaborating with the Center during the last two decades. The exhibition about the revival of the Dizengoff Circle, or Dizengoff Square, is also a part of the Bauhaus Centers’ festivities, as our Center held a show 8 years ago presenting renovation ideas for the iconic square, the “heart” of the White City of Tel Aviv.
Just in time for the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus School, the city of Tel Aviv has successfully completed the restoration of Dizengoff Circus, designed by architect Genia Averbuch — likely the world’s only “Bauhaus Piazza” — to its original design. Regarded as the traditional center of the White City, it is striking for its simple design: a round space, surrounded by nearly identical buildings, featuring curvilinear horizontal slit balconies. The simple, elegant architectural language of this circle makes it a paradigm of local modernist architecture.
Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv, located next to the renewed iconic Dizengoff Circus and happy taking part in the Bauhaus 100 festivities as well as celebrating Bauhaus Centers’ 20th anniversary.
