Fra Bayreuth til Bauhaus: Gesamtkunstwerk'et og de moderne kunstformer

The dream of the Gesamtkunstwerk - the total work of art uniting forms of art and redeeming culture - can be followed in many movements of modern art. There seems to be far from Richard Wagner's festivals in Bayreuth to the many experiments of the avantgarde as ephemere visions for a future society, but they share the idea of activating all artistic means and transgress the border between art and life. The wagnerian concepts live on in the writings and experiments of artists as different as Kandinsky, Taut and Schwitters, and the examination of the developement spanns from scenic art and poetry to artists colonies and garden cities, factories and corporate identities.