The Bauhaus was interested in shaping the transition from artisanal to Fordist modes of production. Today, we are experiencing the unfolding of a “second machine age” (Martin Pawley), the final transition from the analog to the digital, from the physical to the virtual, from consumption to co-production.

The classical avantgarde believed in progress, a better future, improvement through renewal. Today’s “utopias” increasingly aim for deceleration (slow food, urban gardening, etc.) and conservation (two-degree aim of climate policy, environmental protection, nature protection, cultural preservation). While the ever-accelerating capitalist transformation is often experienced as problematic, its (conservative-leaning) critique aims for its negation or rejection. Are today’s fronts still unambiguous about progress having emancipatory effects and conservation having reactionary effects? Or is it the other way around?

Technology and financialization trigger geopolitical realignments, shift ideological narratives, and transform societal systems. The further development of science and technology unfolds only limited social progress, however. This raises the question of whether the current political and ideological backwards orientation is happening despite – or because of – the progress of information technology. Are there current models of a cultural practice that conceptualizes technology and knowledge production in terms of global, society-wide progress? How can we design and communicate such a practice of progress? During a multi-day workshop, “Projekt Bauhaus” will confront various teams (brigades) with these questions and also discuss them with the public. The teams will implement artistic interventions, design experiments, lecture formats, and workshops.