For the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Staatliches Bauhaus in 2019, the Documenta archive and the University of Kassel conceived an exhibition, a symposium and this publication, as a means of examining the affinities between the legacies of the interconnected brands of Bauhaus and Documenta. Both institutions came into being after the cataclysms of world war (in 1919 and 1955) and both of them exemplify, as the organizers put it, the liberating power of art and culture.

Collecting writings from key figures in the formation of both organizations–including Arnold Bode, Walter Gropius and Hannes Meyer–alongside contributions by scholars and academics Bazon Brock, Walter Grasskamp, Birgit Jooss, Philipp Oswalt, Nora Sternfeld, Annette Tietenberg, Fred Turner, Daniel Tyradellis and Daniela Stoeppel (among many others), this is a major assessment of two exemplars of Germany’s pivotal role in modern and contemporary art.