The Bauhaus (per)forms

Abstract

This study uses the methods and discourses of creative/performative writing and formal aesthetics to evoke the visual aesthetic principles exercised and developed by the Bauhaus and its Stage Workshop. It explores the creative connections between visual and written forms that can affect meaning through primary, universal expression and comprehension. First, a graph links creative/performative writing and avant-garde theater concepts with related Bauhaus performance documents. This initial graph contains the key forms of visual and written expression used in the remaining sections. These further areas of inquiry include, an evocative rendering of the multiple and partial histories that include the Bauhaus, an investigation of formal aesthetics and as interpreted by the Bauhaus, and interpretation and investigation of three of the Bauhaus Stage Workshop performances applying written and aesthetic methods aimed at richer analysis. The Bauhaus' development of formal aesthetics, particularly the Stage Workshop performances, provide a dynamic testing ground for how creative/performative writing and formal aesthetics can aid in expression and comprehension of visual artistic works. As both methods and subjects of inquiry, creative/performative writing and formal aesthetics offer a means of stressing the evocative and citational power of creative discourses, by emphasizing a visual/experiential model for scholarly research. The study concludes with a call for further investigation of the power of primary formal aesthetics upon comprehension and expression of experiences that might otherwise lose consensus due to cultural variables.