In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

330 CODES
systems of organization and new professional roles. It is a common point
of reference for artists, philosophers, and even Germany's Social Democratic
Party. [see Assembly Lines, Employees, Elevators, Railroads,
Strikes] This explains why the Social Democratic city administration of
Dessau, a center for chemical manufacture and aircraft production south
of Berlin with barely 89,000 inhabitants, offers a home to the Bauhaus
after the school's negotiations with the German government concerning
the expansion of its activities in Weimar have failed (Galison, 715). On
a campus of soberly elegant buildings (most of them designed by
Bauhaus teachers), the faculty inaugurates a program of study that tries
to channel artistic imagination toward practical tasks. Looking to the
needs of industrial production, this curriculum consists of cabinetmaking,
metalworking, weaving, sculpture, theater, wall painting, advertising,
typography, as well as a "basic course," taught by the Hungarian
designer Laszl6 Moholy-Nagy, in which contemporary mathematics is
linked to philosophy (Willet, 120; Wechselwirkungen, 275-276).
Traditionally leftist intellectuals do not always find it easy to come to
terms with their own growing admiration for the industrial methods.
Eugen Diesel, whose father developed the diesel engine, publishes a book
entitled Der Weg durch das Wirrsal (The Road through Confusion), in
which he interprets this fascination as a misguided reaction to an overly
complex cultural and political situation. Despite his intentions, however,
Diesel's descriptions often end up aggrandizing the leaders of business
and industry. For example, nothing could be more flattering to the steel
magnate Hugo Stinnes than a comparison with Alexander the Great:
"Alexander conquers the Orient, placing its women, gods, wines, and
festivals at his feet. Stinnes does likewise with manufacturing plants,
cigarette factories, Carlton hotels, and stocks and bonds . . . One is
blond, sensual, and full of life, and would like to be the son of Jupiter
Ammon. The other is dark-haired, hates the arts, and has long declined
all honorary titles" (Diesel, 135). An essay entitled "Die neue
Sachlichkeit in der Schule" ("The New Sobriety in Education"), published
by the influential magazine Die Tat, uses the current definition of
Sobriety (a struggle against chaos) in order to legitimize the most recent
curricular changes in secondary education. Sobriety comes to stand for
collectivity-oriented instruction, and seems to distance itself from capitalism:
"Our age is characterized by its lack of norms, and our culture
is probably just beginning to come into existence, even as the new society