I'm watching a documentary about the Bauhaus, a school of design and architecture which was started by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany in 1919. It was big on throwing out the rulebook and depending on creativity and a connection with shape, substance and color. It is loved and hated to this day. Many buildings that came out of the Bauhaus are with us still.
One small part of the origin story struck me. The Bauhaus began just after the end of World War I, a terrifyingly brutal war, and at the end of the flu epidemic that killed millions worldwide.
The artists and architects who stood in the ashes of the war and the pandemic, and looked into the future, saw a world of unlimited possibilities. The nightmares were over, and were replaced by creativity, color, and brilliant functionality that freed them to experience and find delight in their new world.
The year 2021 will apparently bring us to the end of nightmares that have haunted us, one for a year, and one for four years. We will see nothing but limitless opportunity. Finally freed from the bonds of fear and despair, we will soar.
What new Bauhaus will we create? Please forgive me my naivete and insufficient cynicism, but I can't wait.
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