‘To the Essence’ – 100 Years of Bauhaus in Dessau
In September 2025, Dessau will kick off the anniversary year celebrating the Bauhaus’s 100th anniversary in the city. Under the motto ‘To the Essence’, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation will commemorate the school’s move from Weimar to Dessau and the opening of the Bauhaus building in 1926 until the end of 2026. The anniversary will focus on modern materials such as concrete, glass, steel, aluminium and brick, highlighting their technological, economic and cultural significance both then and now.
The celebrations will kick off with a multi-day festival from 5 to 7 September 2025 in the Bauhaus building, the Bauhaus Museum Dessau and public spaces throughout the city. Oskar Schlemmer’s legendary ‘Material Dances’ will be performed in contemporary interpretations on the historic Bauhaus stage. In addition, Italian composer Piero Mottola will premiere ‘Voices of Bauhaus,’ an experimental voice orchestra.
From 5 September onwards, the festival and museum will be open to the general public: concerts, workshops, hands-on activities and various events in the city will celebrate the anniversary together.
The opening festival marks the start of an extensive programme that will run over the coming months. Exhibitions, performances, film series, city tours and academic conferences are planned. From the end of 2025 and throughout 2026, several major exhibitions at the Bauhaus Museum and historic Bauhaus sites in Dessau will focus on topics such as ‘Glass | Concrete | Metal’, ‘Algae | Rubble | CO₂’ and ‘Brick | Shed | Electricity’. This will not only focus on the historical substance of the Bauhaus, but also on its relevance to current issues of construction, sustainability and cultural identity.
The 2025/26 anniversary will showcase the Bauhaus Dessau as a living place where the past, present and future of design come together in dialogue. The kick-off on the first weekend of September 2025 will impressively bridge the gap between artistic experimentation, historical memory and public participation.
The detailed programme schedule is available here.