Jay Rutherford Rewind: Mining the past
In the hallowed halls of the original Bauhaus in Weimar we are experimenting yet again with upsetting the accepted rules of art and design education. Under the rubric “interdisciplinary project studies”, the Faculty of Art and Design (Fakultät Gestaltung), one of four faculties at the Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar, offers no foundatin course, relying instead on a “learning by doing” method. Students pick up technical skills in no prescribed order but rather as pragmatically rquired, in order to fulfil project assignments. Projects tend not to have a technical focus, or even a preordained medium. Students choose their own methods and media to explore themes and respond to challenges. We are not churning out slaves for industry, rather thinkers for a new and unknown future.