Bauhaus Building, Dessau, 1925-1926: View from the northeast during construction 1925 - 1926

Editor: So, here we have a photo from Photothek of the Bauhaus Building in Dessau, taken during its construction in 1925-26. There's a stark, almost unsettling quality to the geometry, and the barren landscape adds to that feeling. What captures your attention in this image? Curator: It’s a ghost of utopia, isn't it? The stark lines promising order, the open space suggesting freedom. But there's an austerity here, a sense of control bordering on the clinical. Does it feel more like a promise or a threat to you? Editor: I see what you mean. It feels like both. There's such optimism in the clean design, yet almost… oppressive in its rigidity. Curator: Perhaps that's the essence of the Bauhaus: the tension between the ideal and the real, the beautiful and the functional, the individual and the collective. It's a fascinating paradox frozen in time.