Re-imagining Bauhaus: Bring to life Art and Industry through Studio Practice in Design

Here at INTI Center of Art and Design (ICAD), Subang Jaya, Malaysia there are multiple activities that run from time to time. Even the hiatus due to the pandemic did not deter the enthusiasm of the teaching team. Quite recently with the return to physical and studio practice, the Foundation in Design (CFDE) teaching team put together a design workshop titled Creative Archive and themed it to the famous art movement — Bauhaus. Though the Creative Archive had been run numerous times through the years, it did not attempt to involve all the students and so for the first time ever, they gathered all three semesters into one space to collaborate ideas and experiment with innovative creations.

Undertaking the Bauhaus Art Movement as its base, the students were first introduced to the gurus of that era namely Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Josef Albers who initiated and broke away from the traditional characteristics of art and brought about a new form of art through minimalism and abstracticism with colour and geometry. They were tasked with assembling multiple possibilities using the basic square, triangle, and circle elements. Each of them was to be coloured in the primary colours of red, blue and yellow.

 Moving forward the students were given the opportunity to tap into their innovative genes to create a 3-dimensional sculpture using found objects from around the campus building, workshop and their homes. Though they were tasked with creating an animal-themed sculpture, the students took every opportunity to showcase their storytelling skills by creating a background story for their creations. Some even took the chance to create continuity from their previous 2D task.

As the day came to an end, they were curious and driven with enthusiasm to the last day of the workshop. A fashion-based workshop to design key signature accessories for their Bauhaus-themed party. The aim of the workshop was to use the knowledge they had gathered from their previous two tasks and apply them to create a “sharp fashion sense” that is ready to party. Here is when they allowed themselves to go free and wild in expressing the Bauhaus characteristics.

The entire experience culminated in the party where students shared what they had learned with their enthusiastic educators. Even the teaching team decided to add more flair to the party by guiding the students into planning their exhibition space and providing some light refreshments for all to enjoy.

Till the next time from ICAD: INTI Center of Art and Design, Subang Jaya, Malaysia

Originally published on Medium.com