Explore the historic Bauhaus exhibition from 1931 with VR

Interested visitors can explore a reconstructed Bauhaus exhibition from 1931 using VR glasses. The VR museum is soon to go on tour in Germany.

Thanks to virtual reality, interested parties will soon be able to visit a reconstructed Bauhaus exhibition from 1931. This is possible thanks to the work of students and teachers from Erfurt universities, who have reconstructed the historical exhibition of Bauhaus representatives around Walter Gropius using the original plans and photographs.

Immerse yourself in Bauhaus history

The project is part of a whole series of exhibitions and events on the occasion of the 100th Bauhaus anniversary. 100 years ago, the architect Walter Gropius founded the State Bauhaus in Weimar, laying one of the foundations of modern architecture and design. The Bauhaus, which only existed for a few years, made a name for itself worldwide as an innovative school for design, art and architecture. Under the National Socialists, however, the Bauhaus was forced to dissolve itself and many of its protagonists emigrated. The after-effects of the influential educational centre continue to this day.

In the virtual exhibition in Erfurt has now been a year's work. "It's an authentic experience from the 1930s, even if you can't smell it, of course," explains Patrick Rössler, Professor of Communication Science at the University of Erfurt. He discovered the original plan of the exhibition by chance during research work in Florida and initiated the project with architecture professor Yvonne Brandenburger. Their students invested a lot of time and had to familiarise themselves with software that was new to them, the two explain.

Augmented reality with smartphone

The students have even incorporated a cinema room into the digital show, in which Bauhaus films were shown at the time, for example on the subject of social housing. However, the exhibition is predominantly grey in grey. This is because it was simply no longer possible to reconstruct the colour scheme of the original hall from the pure black and white photographs. What the VR glasses wearer is currently exploring in the virtual show is visualised for others on large screens.

The students have also developed an app for smartphones that visitors can download. This allows them to visualise matching architectural models on their mobile phone screens using augmented reality on the exhibition's real-life explanatory walls. The exhibition will open on Wednesday evening and will then be accessible to the general public free of charge in the Schlüterstrasse gallery until 30 April. After several weeks in Thuringia's state capital, the old new exhibition is to go on tour, including to Leipzig and Stuttgart.

Source: heise / Image: savingplaces