Curated by Marion von Osten and Grant Watson

All too often, global is used as an empty catchword. “bauhaus imaginista” at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt aims to buck this trend with its timely and historically accurate premise that the Bauhaus was an international phenomenon even before the Nazis scattered its affiliates around the world. The exhibition (and catalogue) has been years in the making, building on previous partial iterations and workshops presented in Brazil, China, India, Japan, Nigeria, and Russia. The show features some six hundred works in multifarious media dating from the early-twentieth century to the present. The usual suspects share space with lesser-known Bauhaus affiliates, such as Gertrud Arndt, Kurt Schwerdtfeger, and Iwao Yamawaki, as well as artists not traditionally associated with the Bauhaus, including Lygia Pape and the Otolith Group. Travels to Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland, September 20, 2019–January 12, 2020. A related exhibition, “Undead: Pop Culture in Britain Beyond the Bauhaus,” will be on view at Nottingham Contemporary, UK, September 21, 2019–January 5, 2020.

— Noam M. Elcott