Building the Future. Together is a laboratory-exhibition, an exercise in testing scenarios for a fairer and more inclusive future—an interactive park where visitors of Romanian Design Week discovered the principles and values of the New European Bauhaus and were able to expand upon them through collaborative processes, installations, and games specifically designed to highlight the importance of multidisciplinarity, dialogue spaces, and participatory processes.
Through six interactive installations, the exhibition aimed to showcase a selection of local projects and organizations that share the values of the New European Bauhaus. It explored the synergies and potential generated by dialogue between these organizations in defining sustainable processes and building a more inclusive future, structured around a circuit of six themes: the history of the Bauhaus School, the European construct, the relationship between aesthetics, functionality, and interactivity, the role of creative communities in urban development, spaces for dialogue and the significance of participatory processes, and the potential of cultural and natural heritage as resources that can be intelligently and innovatively harnessed to create the foundations of sustainable development.
The Bauhaus School was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, then Germany’s capital following the First World War. In that era of transformation and disillusionment, the movement unified crafts with fine arts, principles of mass production with individual artistic vision, aesthetics with everyday function—embracing the technological advancements specific to the 20th century, which enabled an efficient and practical approach, enriching it with principles of multidisciplinarity, collaboration, and creativity.
The Bauhaus Bauspiel game was designed in 1923 by Alma Siedhoff-Buscher, who created functional and brightly coloured furniture and toys for the “Haus am Horn,” a house designed by Georg Muche and built specifically for the Weimar Bauhaus exhibition of 1923. Each room in the house featured furniture and accessories, all created within the Bauhaus workshops. The game’s principles revolve around compositional freedom, free from rigid constraints or rules, emphasizing clear forms and simple, essential lines.
Continuing the tradition and values proposed by Bauhaus, the European Commission’s initiative—the New European Bauhaus—invites us all to collectively envision and construct an equitable, sustainable, and inclusive future. In this same spirit, the installation “The Playground” encouraged visitors to play with ideas, connect with the space, and embrace opportunities for new perspectives.
The installation aimed to generate a participatory process around the concept of the European construct and to designate (and design) a space for dialogue where visitors could imagine and express their opinions and wishes regarding the European Union. It combined concepts and themes such as culture, environment, power, and citizenship with values including care, dreaming, negotiation, and communication.
Visitors were invited to represent and assemble their own vision of the European construct through a methodology provided by the artists in the form of a game, while also engaging in a conceptual dialogue with visions and compositions developed during the Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial, which took place concurrently.
The exhibition concept was developed by the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca together with the École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Étienne (France) and was first presented at EuroFabrique (Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris, 2022).
Local Design Circle presented an interactive installation that could only be discovered, completed, and interpreted through visitors’ interactions. It consisted of a series of graphic and typographic compositions created by members of Local Design Circle, aiming to clearly reflect and express the aesthetic universe and type of thinking developed following the Bauhaus School. Additionally, the installation sought to highlight the importance of collaborative processes among individuals with diverse specializations and interests.
The work aimed to explore the relationship between aesthetics, functionality, and interactivity through dynamic compositions built on modular elements arranged according to a predefined geometric grid.
This collaborative approach continued during the exhibition itself, where visitors were encouraged to interact with and experience the installation in groups of three, having the opportunity to explore multiple visual instances of the basic elements, creating new interpretations with each movement.
The installation aimed to emphasize the role of creative communities and cultural hubs in the healthy development of cities, presenting a series of local case studies and best practices. Its purpose was to highlight their evolution and importance in urban reconversions and regeneration projects, accompanied by a collaborative sculpture, (re)configurable through the contributions of its co-creators. This sculpture distilled the idea of collaboration—a defining value of any cultural-creative hub, absolutely essential for the coherent and balanced development of urban environments.
This section spotlighted formal and informal citizen groups that manage cultural hubs, fab labs, incubators, creative spaces, and creative social centres within repurposed urban areas. In other words, it showcased bottom-up urban development initiatives carried out by involving creative communities, whether they are art centres, incubators, fab labs, or mixed-use spaces. These initiatives naturally become civic and cultural focal points, holding significant potential to drive urban development, provided their governance finds sustainability and balance.
The section was conceived by Nod Design Lab, the creative, design, and architecture division of Nod Makerspace.
“Our combined strengths can find solutions and resources for healthy urban development.
Together, we have dreamt of converting a large, unused public asset—the former REBU halls in the heart of Bucharest. The 2.2-hectare plot with its valuable historic industrial buildings is essential for the local creative agenda and for enhancing the quality of life in the area. Our vision describes the future urban development as the most representative cultural hub for the neighbourhood, city, and region, becoming a driver of growth and helping Bucharest emerge as one of the most dynamic capitals in the next decade.”
The Berzei 21 initiative group proposed a collective thinking and public consultation process centred around an interactive scale model, aimed at fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and, especially, communication among stakeholders involved in such an urban regeneration process. The model served as a pretext for discussing the project’s potential impact locally and regionally, as well as models of co-governance and co-creation that could be piloted.
Berzei 21 is an initiative led by Asociația Cartierul Creativ, Nod Makerspace, Fundația Comunitară București, and BAZA. Together with numerous partners from civil society and the local cultural-creative sector, we open the city.
Romania of Creative Traditions, through an installation by artist Teodor Graur, complemented the curatorial narrative of the exhibition with a piece referencing the multidisciplinary exhibition “Connected to Nature (Circular Tradition),” which took place at the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant as part of the New European Bauhaus Route during Romanian Design Week.
The installation explored the ways in which intangible heritage finds its place in contemporary art, with a particular focus on traditional household crafts from Romania. It served as a pretext to discuss the potential of cultural and natural heritage as resources that can be intelligently and innovatively harnessed to lay the foundations for sustainable development.
The project was part of the New European Bauhaus programme, implemented by the Representation of the European Commission in Romania in partnership with The Institute.
In collaboration with: Local Design Circle, the University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca, Nod Design Lab, Berzei 21 Initiative Group, Romania of Creative Traditions, and BAZA. Deschidem Orașul.
Accessibility consultancy provided by: AMAIS (The Alternative Methods of Social Integration Association).
Sustainability partner: ASAP Romania.
Licitația începe de la 100 lei și va avea loc până pe 6 martie la ora 11.00.
