Opening Triennial on 25.9.2025

Torn Modernism(s)

The Opening for this year's Triennial of Modernism will take place on September 25, 2025 at the Representation of the State of Saxony-Anhalt to the Federal Government at Luisenstraße 17 in Berlin-Mitte. As part of the kick-off, an outlook on the program focal points in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin will be given and their relation to this year's motto "Torn Modernism(s)" will be explained. The motto focuses on the forced migration of the Bauhaus from Weimar to Dessau, but is also reflected in the debates surrounding the current elections and individual program contributions to the Triennial of Modernism. The Opening will be complemented by two keynote speeches and a musical program with works from the 1920s by Kurt Weill.

Programme

Opening on 25.9.2025

The Triennial of Modernism 2025 will open with a reception and an Opening in Berlin. The Opening in Berlin is also the beginning of the supra-regional program of the Triennial of Modernism festival under the cross-city motto "Torn Modernism(s)". The event is open to the general public. A personal invitation is not necessary, but the security regulations of the state representation require prior registration at veranstaltungen@lv.stk.sachsen-anhalt.de.

  • 17:30 Arrival and registration
  • 18:00 Welcome and greetings
    • for Saxony-Anhalt: Frank Smeddinck, Ministerialdirigent,
      Head of the Representation of the State of Saxony-Anhalt to the Federal Government in Berlin
    • for Thuringia: Christian K. Tischner, Minister for Education, Science and Culture
    • for Berlin: Petra Kahlfeldt, Senate Building Director Berlin
  • 18:15 Music with works by Kurt Weill
    Wind quartet with musicians of the Anhaltinische Philharmonie
  • 18:25 Introduction
    Short presentation on the topic "Torn Modernism(s)"
    by Robert K. Huber (co-curator of the Triennial, zukunftsgeraeusche gbR, coordination of Opening)
  • 18:35 short break
  • 18:40 Lectures and discussions
    on the topicality of the history of ideas of Modernism - including
    • Irina Scherbakowa (co-founder and board member of "Zukunft Memorial e.V.", winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize)
    • Wolfgang Knöbl (Director of the "Hamburg Institute for Social Research")
  • 19:15 Music by Kurt Weill
  • 19:25 Short presentation of the programs
  • in the three cities of Weimar, Dessau and Berlin
    and individual exemplary projects with
    • Dr. Barbara Steiner, Chairman and Director of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
    • Dr. Ulrike Bestgen, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Dept. Bauhaus Museum, Modernism and the Present
    • Stephanie Otto, Participation Officer at the Berlin State Monuments Office
    • Ben Buschfeld, co-curator / designer of the Triennial, FFHBB e.V., project "100 years of the Hufeisensiedlung"
  • 19:55 Music by Kurt Weill
  • 20:00 Panel discussion
    on the current significance of the overarching motto and on
    experiences and projects on site, questions from the audience
  • 20:45 Get-together and reception

Venue

Registration required

Representation of the State of Saxony-Anhalt to the Federal Government,
Luisenstraße 18, 10117 Berlin

Participants

  • List of speakers and panel guests
    (overview currently in preparation)

Note on documentation
Photos, video and audio recordings will be made during the Opening. and audio recordings will be made. These can be used as part of public relations work (including in social media) and serve to document the Modernism 2022 Triennial (offline and online) and can also be accessed outside Europe. This is done in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1f) GDPR. By attending the events, you consent in principle to such documentation and use. You have the right to object to the processing, as well as the right to free information about your stored data and to correction, deletion and restriction of the processing of the data. If you do not wish your personal data to be published, please contact the photographers and/or videographers active on site directly or contact the project coordinators of the Modernism 2025 Triennial .

Entire festival period

September 25 to December 14, 2025

After the Opening on September 25 in Berlin, the focus of the program will shift to Weimar and Dessau, where the program of the Triennial of Modernism will be reduced to the extended weekend from September 26 to 29, while the program in Berlin will run until mid-December. Towards the end of the event period, an international closing conference will take place from November 31 to December 1. It will also serve as a milestone conference for the European Triennial of Modernism (ETOM) network, which has been in existence since 2022, and will provide the framework for several contributions from our European labs within the New European Bauhaus Lab (ETOM NEB Lab).

Cross-city motto

Torn Modernism(s)

The developments and the history(ies) of Modernism(s) go hand in hand with rifts that confront a creative and social avant-garde. Modernism(s) were torn apart in the clash with the traditional, in the struggle with anti-modern antagonisms, with the infernalities of fascism and in the face of revolutionary terror, as well as from internal divisions, in the conflict between reform movements, and from their own ambivalences. Especially in the year 2025, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the forced migration of the Bauhaus from Weimar to Dessau, this tearing apart becomes clear as a motif in Modernism as well as in the topicality of today's political and social confrontations, not only in Germany. International exchange reveals the relevance of Modernism as a progressive legacy for European democracy and for sustainable solutions to common future tasks.
The ousting of the Bauhaus from Weimar in 1925 was preceded by the so-called "fateful election" in Thuringia in 1924, which was followed by a chronology of persecution, expulsion, annihilation and war - and initially the end of the Weimar Republic. The global conflagration of the Second World War, which started in Germany, was to finally tear apart " Modernism" and lead to further and more far-reaching migration processes until at least the fall of the so-called Iron Curtain. However, a closer look at the genesis and the disruptions allows us to speak of Modernism(s) and thus puts up for discussion different triggers and characteristics that - according to the general classification - occur from early to late Modernism and continue to have an effect today and for the understanding of a "reflexive Modernism" in the broader sense. With this inaugural event, TDM2025 is opening up a scientific and social debate contribution to the current political and cultural discourse - for the professional and generally interested public. [Text: Robert K. Huber]

Other topics and focal points

The year of anniversaries ...

Several important anniversaries will be celebrated in 2025, which will also be reflected in the program, especially in Berlin. In addition to the cross-city motto, three anniversaries determine the program and focus of the individual program partners:

  • 100 years of the Horseshoe Estate / 100 years of Neues Bauen (1924/25) 
  • 80 years of reconstruction and post-war modernism (1945)  
  • 50 years of the European Heritage Charter (Amsterdam, 1975)

Network, closing event and European dimension

European Triennial of Modernism (ETOM)

The cooperation of the TDM core partners from Berlin, Dessau and Weimar represents an extraordinary consortium that brings together a combination of cultural organizations and institutions, municipal administrations and civil society initiatives to jointly address this topic and offer a special supra-regional forum - at the same time, the European partners, in ETOM's trans-sectoral network, achieve an international discussion and reach. For the first time in 2025, a "ETOM2025pilot" festival will present program offerings bundled as a transnational festival. An international "ETOM2025pilot Conference" is planned to conclude the festival programs on 28 and 29 November 2025 in Berlin.

Core partners of the Triennial of Modernism (TDM)

The consortium of TDM core partners consists of: Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, City of Dessau-Roßlau / Cultural Office, City Marketing Dessau-Roßlau, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, weimar GmbH, Berlin Chamber of Architects, Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin, buschfeld.com / Tautes Heim, Kunstbibliothek - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, visitBerlin GmbH, zukunftsgeraeusche GbR / BHROX bauhaus reuse.

Notes and proof of funding

Many of the above-mentioned services are provided by program partners without institutional funding. Parts of the Berlin program are funded by the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin. This shortfall in funding is supplemented by individual partners' own and third-party funds.

The kick-off event at the Representation of the State of Saxony-Anhalt to the Federal Government is funded by the State of Saxony-Anhalt.

In cooperation with / sponsored by:

Supplemented by funds from the: