Walter Gropius: Workshop weeks
To mark the centenary of the Bauhaus, in cooperation with Walter Gropius School in Erfurt, the idea arose to develop a sculpture with the pupils doing justice to the artistic claim of the school’s name giver, Walter-Gropius, which could ultimately also be realised in the school building. For this purpose, three workshop weeks were held with eight to twelve youths each. Initially, in a jury session, three models were shortlisted from the model works which were later on put into more precise terms. In a further session of the jury, one work of art was chosen which was then implemented by a metal processing company.
What have you taken home from this project for your artistic activities?
The challenge in this project was to rouse enthusiasm among my workshop participants and sensitise them to the dimension and seriousness of the project. Explaining the individual steps of the process in the right words to a counterpart requires an additional review of what is purely an intuition. Many subconscious actions in one’s own creative work thus enter one’s consciousness since one has to explain them again and again to the participants. In this project, I have learnt a lot about the need for communication with those involved who are responsible.