As at the Bauhaus school, Burg Giebichenstein School of Arts and Crafts had been holding parties since 1922. The first of these was a costume ball, which the sculptor Gustav Weidanz described in a postcard to his brother. After the Bauhaus school in Weimar was closed, many of the teachers were not drawn to Dessau but to Halle. One of them was the sculptor and graphic artist Gerhard Marcks, who became the head of the department of sculpture and then director of the school in 1928. He held this post until he was discharged in 1933. Marguerite Friedlaender-Wildenhain and Benita Koch-Otte came to Halle with Marcks. They were followed a little later by, amongst others, Erich Consem\u00fcller, Hans Wittwer and Heinrich Koch. It is no coincidence that the first festival, which students from both the Bauhaus and Burg Giebichenstein schools organised on December 4th and 5th 1925, was entitled Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) because the new Bauhaus people brought their ideas with them. Walter Gropius and L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Moholy-Nagy came to Halle from Dessau with a large group of students in order to demonstrate an anti-bourgeoisie with protagonists from Burg Giebichenstein. The form and notation in the design of the invitation card was already evidence of the new spirit in Halle.<\/p>\n
The highlights of the party were the ballet Homo mechanisatus, which was staged by Wolfgang T\u00fcmpel and which showed gymnastic performances accompanied by music and text as well as a dance competition and a fashion show. T\u00fcmpel had been a student in the metal class at the Bauhaus and continued his studies at Burg Giebichenstein. The performers of the ballet were all students from Halle. Homo mechanisatus was intended as a parodistic but also critical replica of Oskar Schlemmer\u2019s Triadic ballet. The choreography and important stylistic devices indeed resembled elements of its model from the Bauhaus, the stage though was divided up into three elements: \u201cSound\u201d, \u201cMovement\u201d and \u201cLanguage\u201d (see image).<\/p>\n
The Burg Parties of the following years were clearly influenced by the unique New Objectivity party. Die R\u00f6hre, held on February 26th and 27th 1926 invited all guests to step into the party through a tube (see image). Another party came soon afterwards, in June. And in February of the following year, Erwin Hahs and his painting class organised a costume ball. In March 1929, the motto in the Burg studios was Keep smiling. Numerous other festivals were held every year until 1933, although the Rosamunde Summer Festival in June 1931 was already subject to the specifications of the National Socialists which meant the celebrations could not be as carefree as before.<\/p>\n
Burg Giebichenstein and the Bauhaus played a crucial role in modern art because they both fought to liberate art and art education from its academic constraints. Not only did both schools succeed in conveying visual and applied arts in all its facets, but also in teaching movement, dance, theatre, music, space, form and literature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As at the Bauhaus school, Burg Giebichenstein School of Arts and Crafts had been holding parties since 1922. The first of these was a costume ball, which the sculptor Gustav Weidanz described in a postcard to his brother. After the Bauhaus school in Weimar was closed, many of the teachers were not drawn to Dessau […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":327131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n