Nottingham Contemporary, UK
Exhibition design
Still Undead at Nottingham Contemporary, was the UK chapter of Bauhaus Imaginista, a research project that explored the legacy of the Bauhaus from a transnational perspective. Taking as its starting point Kurt Schwerdtfeger’s 1922 reflective coloured light projection, the exhibition examined how the methods and concepts of the Bauhaus were rejected, refracted and adapted in Britain.
01Entry as fragment of Schwerdtfeger’s projection device
02Figure of eight, steam bent screen
Each of the four galleries at Nottingham focused on a different period and manifestation of the school’s legacy. A distinct spatial strategy was conceived for each of these rooms in response to the works presented within them. Gallery 1 presented experimental projections that were originally screened at Bauhaus parties. At Nottingham, the films were suspended throughout the gallery. Gallery 2 presented two distinct bodies of work: the production of Bauhaus emigrees during their time in Britain and the emergence of the basic design course in British art schools. This content was separated by a figure of eight, steam bent screen that held films and opened out to each side of the gallery.
03Gallery as shopfront
04Double height black box with low seating and displays
Gallery 3 presented the work of designers who reimagined the aims of the Bauhaus for an era of consumerism and commercial design. Here, interior and exterior were merged and the full depth of the gallery was treated as a shopfront with works displayed on freestanding figures, visible from the street. The focus of Gallery 4 was 1980’s youth culture which invoked the spirit of Bauhaus theatre and parties. The gallery was designed as an immersive black box space with low seating and displays to lounge and spend time with the content.