Alicja Gaskon [*1984 · PL]. „The Knot (Weimar-Dessau-Berlin)“, 2018.

Acrylic and Screenprint on Cotton Rag Paper. 10 + 2 E.A.

The work focuses on Bauhaus’s complicated history of existence at three different locations as well as its gender politics. Due to the political climate of that time, shifts of focus, technique and instructors, the school moved three times over the total distance of 305 km. The measured space between the Weimar’s, Dessau’s and Berlin’s locations is depicted in the 1:100 000 scale of the weaved lines. The black line that traverses the tangled knot serves as a visual representation of the road between those locations. Both the structure as well as the title of the work are based on the “Knots” series executed by Anni Albers in the late 40’. Albers was a Bauhaus student since 1922. After 1931 she became the Head of the Weaving Workshop, which made her one of the very few women to hold such a senior role at the school. The Weaving Workshop was at first a neglected part of the Bauhaus that later became one of its most successful facilities. In a way, although the school fronted progressive ideas of gender equality, it still maintained many barriers for women (different standards in the acceptance policy for women, redirecting female students into more domestic subjects of weaving, or ceramics, etc.). Anni Albers developed many functionally unique textiles combining properties of light reflection, sound absorption, durability, and minimized wrinkling and warping tendencies and played a fundamental role in the development of the Bauhaus school’s weaving program.

250 € net