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Commission resurrects interwar design movement to inspire sustainable living under European Green Deal
The European Commission has launched an initiative that will bring together scientists and artists to develop “new aesthetics” combining design and sustainability principles as part of EU efforts to curb climate change.
The European Bauhaus initiative, inspired by the highly influential Bauhaus arts and crafts school that operated in Germany from 1919 to 1933, will be “a bridge between on one hand the world of science and technology and on the other hand the world of arts and culture”, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on 14 October.
“It is about a new European Green Deal aesthetics,” von der Leyen said, referring to the Commission’s package of environmental sustainability policies, and will bring “the comfort and attractiveness of sustainable living” to EU citizens.
She said the European Bauhaus would be a “think and experimentation space” that could include a forum for discussions, a lab for experimentation, an accelerator for innovations and a hub for expertise.
The initiative will be rolled out in three phases, von der Leyen said. An initial design phase will “explore the ideas and shape the movement”, drawing on the expertise of “everybody who wants to take part”, such as scientists, students, architects, designers, artists and entrepreneurs.
A second phase for delivery will start in 2021 with five sustainability projects in different EU countries. The third and final phase, from 2023 onwards, will seek to disseminate the movement “beyond Europe’s borders”.