In Berlin, spanning the 450-foot length of the Brandenburg Gate where the former Wall divided the city, a kinetic installation ripples in the wind, bearing hand-written messages from city residents. Created by artist Patrick Shearn, “Visions in Motion” recognized the 30-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Poetic Kinetics (@poetickinetics)

120,000 fabric streamers, 30,000 of them bearing notes, mimic the banners carried during demonstrations of the Peaceful Revolution, when hundreds of people came together to demand the reunification of Germany. Shearn, a resident of Berlin’s sister city Los Angeles, encouraged supporters in LA to participate by contributing their own messages, wishes and hopes for the future to the project.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Poetic Kinetics (@poetickinetics)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Poetic Kinetics (@poetickinetics)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Poetic Kinetics (@poetickinetics)

“In total, the installation is comprised of approximately 9500 linear ft. of rope, over 1250 hand-tied technical knots and approximately 120,000 ripstop nylon and reflective fabric streamers arranged in an elegant, colorful pattern. Harnessing available wind, the artwork will undulate in a gorgeous, immersive display… Patrick Shearn is particularly inspired to lend his work to this auspicious historical event and intends ‘Visions in Motion’ to be a symbol for peace and the united power of the people overcoming injustice.”

“‘As an artist, I am deeply moved by the invitation to translate such a watershed moment in human history into physical form,” says Shearn. “In light of the state of affairs in the world today, I feel it is a time to be bold, gather together with a unified voice, and throw our shared colors and our dreams skyward for the world to see.’”

The installation was in place from November 4-10 for Berlin Festival Week, when the city transformed “into a large open-air exhibition and event location” for official celebrations.

When the famous Bauhaus school of architecture and design first opened in Weimar, Germany in 1919, the majority of students were women. That wasn’t by design, though founder Water Gropius took the unusual stance of declaring equality among genders; it was simply that more women than men applied the first year. The school’s focus on ushering the world into a new era attracted all manner of radicals, which would later make it a target of the Nazis.

Talk about the Bauhaus movement tends to focus on its most famous figures – Paul Klee, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Wassily Kandinsky. But women like Marianne Brandt, Anni Albers, Florence Henri and Ilse Fehling played key roles in Bauhaus, too, roles that don’t get enough attention. A new film called “Lotte am Bauhaus” fictionalizes their stories, focusing on a character named Lotte Brendel who draws inspiration from Alma Siedhoff-Buscher.

“Although their names were condemned to a footnote, the Bauhaus also trained women. In the hundredth anniversary of its foundation, this historical drama roams the Staatliche Bauhaus classrooms from the point of view of one of its artists, Lotte Brendel, character inspired by the great Alma Siedhoff-Buscher.”

For now, at least, the German-language film appears to only be streaming on the European service Film-in, and translations into English don’t seem to be available. Directed by Gregor Schnitzler, Lotte am Bauhaus premiered in Germany this year and stars Alicia von Rittberg.

You can learn more of the stories of the Women of Bauhaus, including sculptor Alma Siedhoff-Buscher, in a detailed profile at Curbed.

A pivotal institution in the early development of Modernism, the iconic Bauhuas school in Germany has been renovated to match its 1926 look and feel, complete with studios and sleeping spaces now open to the public.

The student rooms, now available for rent, are small, minimally appointed and feature private balconies, designed as spaces to sleep, hang up one’s clothes and work a bit in a chair at a desk, but mainly austere to drive people to collaborate in studio spaces.

Today, for around $50 a night, designers and fans alike can visit this place in Dessau and marvel at the proto-Modernist architecture, enjoying designs made both by and for students and teachers.

In the early 1900s, Walter Gropius pioneered a few form of functionalism and minimalism that would go on to shape not just Modern architecture but also graphic, industrial, furniture and interior design.

Combining an Arts-and-Crafts ethos with an industrial aesthetic, the school attracted talent from around Europe, and molded young minds to think about design in new ways. The institution itself moved around over the decades, from Weimar to Dessau and Berlin then back again.

At any given time, teachers like Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee taught around 200 students to fuse ideas from diverse disciplines including art, advertising, manufacturing and construction. The building itself features an innovative curtain wall system, and while it may look like a familiar form of Modernist design today, it was an early example of a movement that would become the International Style.

A new collection of shirts, jackets, dresses and more from fashion designer Mary Katrantzou recalls two very different design movements, one focusing on the hand-made (Arts & Crafts) and one on powerful, industrial-age graphics and shapes (the Bauhaus).

Debuted on the catwalk of London Fashion Week, this series celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, featuring colors, geometries and typographies recalling the school and movement. These are imprinted, however, on delicate and decorative apparel.

“The collection explores an intermingling of two different breeds of aesthetic, using their components to discover a new hybrid,”says Katrantzou, who drew inspiration in part from vintage Bauhaus posters but also Victorian-era patterns.

“I don’t think anyone would put the Arts and Crafts movement and the Bauhaus together conceptually, but I think it was the beginning of modernism, even if aesthetically it is not as visible.” In a way, these divergent styles represent different paths, but both were built on attention to detail and a belief in the careful and complete designs of everyday objects. Her pieces stitch together the utilitarian and organic sensibilities of the two movements.

“We wanted to choose some of the colours that are present in William Morris’ work and the Arts and Crafts movement, and bring them into the Bauhaus posters, and vice versa. I always loved the Bauhaus posters for their symbolic nature, and equally, I think William Morris as a visual language is equally distinctive.” Katrantzou, who studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, draws a lot of ideas from architecture and built environments, often referencing structures from streets to steel trusses.

These 15 bus shelters from Germany express a distinctive design aesthetic that reflects the tension between stolid practicality and startling creativity.

These two bus shelters face each other from opposite sides of the main road running through Durrnhof, Bavaria.

Captured by Flickr member pilot_micha in June of 2009, the bus shelters were constructed with stereotypical teutonic utility in mind. At some later date, however, their interior walls were whimsically painted, likely by local schoolchildren as an urban beautification project.

XX Marks the Stop

The most interesting bus shelter in the world? Well, maybe in Hanover, the capital city of Lower Saxony and a town famed for its annual commercial fairs. The half-million-strong city also hosted Expo 2000, one of the last and largest world fairs. The bus shelter above is situated in the Königsworther Platz and was photographed by Flickr member jaime.silva in June of 2009.

Hull or High Water

Viewed from both sides, this curiously boat-shaped bus shelter can be found in Hanover’s Rathaus/Friederichswall district. Flickr member jaime.silva snapped the scene in August of 2009.

“In 1994,” according to Flickr member Tim Boric, “nine tram and bus stops in Hannover were redesigned in totally different ways by international artists,” including this one credited to Italian designer Massimo Iosa Ghini. We’d “keel” to have one of these kool kreative bus stops in our neighborhood!

Das Otto

Students at the regional school in Bad Kleinen, near Hamburg, enjoy waiting for their ride home at this shamelessly Simpsons-esque bus shelter. Neither faux-Otto nor his 2D passengers seem particularly pleased… Matt Groening might sport a similar grimace should he ever see this. Kudos to Flickr member Patrick, who captured the less-than-flattering homage in July of 2013.

Smile You Wait

This charming little bus shelter perfectly complements the peaceful, pastoral landscape of the Agricultural Region south of Hamburg. The same can be said for the anonymous work of cheerful, colorful graffiti art on the shelter’s inside back wall. Flickr member Csaba Lehel (infodog) captured the rainy day scene in mid-April of 2018.

Next Page - Click Below to Read More:
Das Bus 15 Quirky Kitschy German Bus Shelters