Gropius House || Fictional.
Inge Mahn and Sujata Bhatt

Exhibition
28 June – 20 Sept 2020
Gropius House

In her work for the Gropius House in Dessau, the sculptor Inge Mahn, born in 1943, starts from an observation she made during her stay in the historical Masters’ Houses as part of the Bauhaus Residence Programme Gropius House || Fictional: The many doors may have been conceived functionally, but sometimes they contradict each other in their everyday use. In a fascinating and humorous way, Inge Mahn thus illuminates the annual theme of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation: "Habitat" refers to living as a cultural practice and not to functional planning, as is often seen as synonymous with the Bauhaus.

Inge Mahn on her work in Dessau:

“The many doors in the house (30 in total!) are somewhat irritating because they are partly contradictory. Of course it is well thought out if every room is connected to the neighbouring room and all rooms are accessible from the corridor, but the idea that several doors are opened by several people at the same time is strange because they could collide”.

The poems of the poet Sujata Bhatt can also be experienced in the exhibition. They refer in many ways to the Masters’House area, its stories and its former inhabitants. In the sense of an open archive, different versions of the texts provide insights into the working processes and the intensive research in the run-up to their creation.

Both Inge Mahn and Sujata Bhatt will design the interior of the Gropius House and at the same time include the exterior of the former directors’ villa in their exhibition. In this way, the works created here are uniquely linked to the architecture of the Dessau World Heritage Site. Independently of each other, the two fictions are dedicated to the theme of Habitat: Visitors can discover the differences, points of friction and overlaps in both positions, which enter into a fictitious dialogue that was not possible due to the Corona pandemic.

Curator Tours

21 August 2020 + 11 September 2020, 3 pm
Gropius House

Curator Florian Strob guides through the exhibition Gropius House || Fictional and provides insights into the life and work of contemporary artists in the ensemble of the Masters' Houses.

The guided tour is free of charge, an entrance ticket for the Masters' Houses must be purchased. Registration required.