Women power for the Bauhaus: In his first speech to the students in Weimar, Walter Gropius promised to make “no distinction between the fairer sex and the stronger sex” and made it clear that everyone was a craftsman at work. However, this approach was soon overtaken by reality: Given the high proportion of female students, the male professors, not least Walter Gropius himself, determined which workshops were suitable for the women. As a result, many of the female students ended up involuntarily in weaving or textile production. A few managed to assert themselves and studied according to their interests in the metal workshop, carpentry or mural painting.

In 1928, Karla Grosch, self-confident and with a short haircut, became the first sports and gymnastics teacher at the Bauhaus Dessau. Alongside the weaver Gunta Stölzl, she was one of the few female teachers. Kerstin Bruchhäuser stages the balancing act of women between departure and retreat. In her two new, floor-to-ceiling works, she presents Karla Grosch, the epitome of the modern, independent woman at the Bauhaus. Inspired by the photographic portraits of women taken by T. Lux Feininger during sports lessons, Kerstin Bruchhäuser creates her textile portraits of Bauhaus women from old trousseau linen. Normal, upside down and jumping – the images of the crutching exercises symbolise the hope for a self-determined time. Will it succeed? Bruchhäuser’s exhibits encourage dialogue.

A textile collage of white linen remnants as an overall social structure – rearranged and viewed from a contemporary perspective. Many small parts make up a large whole and create the balance for a sustainable and expansive work: the large-format Pojagi by Kerstin Bruchhäuser. She “draws” the material for this artistic reflection from remnants of previous works, around one cubic metre of white laundry. The pojagi reveals itself as a female legacy, a metaphor that has become fabric, revealing questions about independence and emancipation, as well as doubts and ambivalence. “The Equal Rights Act of 1958 was not so long ago,” the artist states.

Is that me? 15 portraits made of white linen, textile objects around three metres high, show contemporary women from the back and invite us to identify ourselves. What might the people portrayed look like from the front? The portraits reflect our ideas and expectations of what is visible, including our own. Modern images of women on traditional white linen. Kerstin Bruchhäuser reflects on the individual characteristics that make a person recognisable and at the same time exposes the serial monotony of clothing and bodies as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Encounter or demarcation between generations? The desire for sameness meets uniformity and at the same time the hope of individuality. A change of perspective, an artistic intervention – captured in white underwear by Kerstin Bruchhäuser.