One hundred years have passed since the 1919 establishment of the Bauhaus: the widely celebrated German art school dedicated to uniting fine arts, craft, design and technology. To commemorate its centenary year, Buxton Contemporary highlights the artistic influence of Bauhaus within their exhibition, Bauhaus Now!. Curated by Ann Stephen, Bauhaus Now! explores the movement's impact on the fine arts by displaying a wide range of installation, video, painting and sculpture that depict a modernised, ever-evolving and resurrected Bauhaus movement. Meticulously curated to take the audience through this Bauhaus journey, the exhibition begins with contemporary, abstract expressions of Bauhaus ideals, before ending with a tribute to classical elements of the movement.
Divided across several rooms, Bauhaus Now! begins at the gallery's entrance way, featuring a 2019 costume by Mikala Dwyer and Justene Williams as part of their Mondspiel (Moon Play) series. Interested in exploring a modern-day unification of craft and fine arts, as well as the movement's fascination with the supernatural, the full-body costume is propped on the wall as though resurrected from the dead. Serving as the perfect prelude for what is yet to come in the exhibition, Dwyer and Williams' costume acts as a zombie-like warning of their supernatural explorations coming within the remainder of Bauhaus Now!.
Celine is an Art History & Curating student at Monash University. While at University, Celine currently operates @melbourneartscene on Instagram, where she documents the Melbourne art scene as well as her own artistic practice.
