Textile Territories, 2021, Installation

The site-specific installation was developed for the space of the former Bauhaus textile workshop in the Bauhaus building designed by Walter Gropius. Judith Raum builds up a spatial narration on the last collection of woven curtain fabrics published by the Bauhaus, which happened at the exact moment of national socialism coming to power in Germany.

Two video works reflect on the opposing positions Lilly Reich and Otti Berger, the main protagonists in the development of the curtain collection, held in regard to fabric design for modernist architecture. Their different political positioning in the face of the uprising right-wing ideology of the time gets expressed in highly translucent net materials, painted by the artist, that veil the exhibition space and irritate the gaze, and by a heavy, dark blue curtain material that functions like a spatial border line.

The carrier structure in the installation was developed in cooperation with S.T.I.F.F. Berlin.

The new weaving of the blue curtain material was executed by Ulrike Alps (research) and Ben Teuscher (production).

Photos: Judith Raum, Ludger Paffrath