Colour Festival at the Bauhaus 2007: Yellow

by AlanEvans | September 4, 2007 at 03:21 am

2734 views | 6 Recommendations | 8 comments

Every year the Bauhaus college in Dessau, Germany celebrates in a particular colour - this year on the 1st of September it was the turn of yellow.

Various events throughout the week culminate in an evening of activities on the saturday, which begins with an open-air conert at the theatre (Anhaltisches Theater). A procession then begins through the town and over the bridge to the Bauhaus college, passing various art installations and performances along the way. Yellow clothing is not obligatory, but preferred.

The procession ends at the Bauhaus college, former artistic and academic home of Klee, Kandinsky, Gropius mong others. In the various rooms and corridors, as well as outdoor stages, diverse music, visual arts, film and theatre pieces are presented. Take a look at this short video clip to get an idea of the range on offer.

This tradition originates in the 1920s, where large and elaborate events were organised to allow professors ("masters"), their students and the general public to mix and exchange ideas. Since 1997, this tradition has been linked with the "Colour Festival". The first one in 1997 drew in only a couple of hundred visitors, the White Festival of last year brought in around 8000. Other colors of previous years have been blue, violet, red, silver, green and orange.

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SthPacific

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:34 on September 4th, 2007

AlanEvans, I like this story. It's good stuff. Cool Did you make it to Documanta this year ? I did not see much from it.

AlanEvans

at 06:09 on September 4th, 2007

Thanks, SthPacific

No, I didn't make it to Documenta, and I thank you for pointing it out - I hadn't heard of it (I guess I should look around more - Dessau and the Bauhaus are really on my doorstep). For anyone who's wondering though, there is apparently time still until the 23rd of September to go and check it out in Kassel.

Maddyj

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 07:30 on September 4th, 2007

Great to see small towns doing good stuff. Very modernistic - keeping the spirit of the Bauhaus alive. Who knows what would have happened to the Bauhaus movement if the Nazis hadn't come to power. I love the drumming and the laughing band! Let's hope they choose a less insipid colour next year.

AlanEvans

at 07:48 on September 4th, 2007

Thanks Maddyj,

Not that you're biased at all ;)

According to the farbfest website and the bauhaus website , the colors appear to have come full circle and are running in the same sequence as when it all started in 1997:

1997 White
1999 Yellow
2000 Blue
2001 Red
2002 Silver
2003 Green
2004 Orange
2005 Violet
2006 White
2007 Yellow

This would put next year once again in Blue (unless they decide to change the sequence, just to shake us up a bit). This also unfortunately means you have to wait until 2013 for your favorite purple ;) (well, violet anyway) to come up.

SthPacific

at 13:33 on September 6th, 2007

well I made it to Red. Still got a swatch with the cool logo on it too. I see Tel-a-viv Israel has been world heratige listed as the worlds most important site for BauHaus arcitecture too. Lots of history there :)