Doro Petersen: “It is so much fun to be creative.”

Please complete the sentence: For me, the Bauhaus is …

… a community of lots of creative people who continue to inspire us today. I would love to go back in time and visit it.

You’ve been involved with the Bauhaus for a long time. How do manage to always find new ideas and concepts for the Bauhaus-Lab?

One idea leads to next, that’s how it keeps going. It’s like a never-ending strip of tickertape. Of course, I also get inspired by the workshop participants, as well as exhibitions and the objects themselves. Sometimes it’s like detective work. I immerse myself in the objects and contemplate what kind of activity I could make out of them. For example, I really like these photos of reflective objects from the Dessau Bauhaus period. In preparation for the “Metallic Party”, students had decorated the school building with silver baubles, among other things. Some of the students, like Marianne Brandt, used these for photo experiments. They took pictures of the reflections, which were of course distorted. Many of the photos are like selfies, but also include their surroundings.

Do you sometimes develop new ideas in a team, or more often by yourself?

That depends. In the Bauhaus Agents programme and during the Bauhaus centennial in 2019, our team developed and managed projects in various constellations and with various partners over longer periods of time, e.g “Practising the Bauhaus” and “Bauhaus Curriculum” at the Walter Gropius School. Other ideas, such as the concepts for the Saturday Bauhaus-Lab, we develop on our own. New colleagues are introduced to the job “on the go”, so to speak.

If I met you on the train, how would you explain your profession?

I’d describe my job by saying that I help museums get their visitors, young and old, excited about the exhibitions. I convey exhibition content in a sensual way by encouraging people to become active themselves and experience art up close. It’s important to me that people look at the works very closely, question and discover them together with others.

How did you become a mediator at the Bauhaus-Archiv?

It was back in 2013 through the organisation “Jugend im Museum” (Youth in the Museum). I started by leading Family Sunday events. This format proved very successful, and eventually I also offered holiday courses, school projects, I started working as a live speaker and doing open workshops. I was something of a regular Bauhaus contributor by that point.

So you were there when the Bauhaus-Lab first began?

Exactly, I’ve been with the Bauhaus-Lab from the very beginning. Back then we were in the ReUse pavilion near the ramp of the Bauhaus-Archiv building and did a lot with graphics: creating patterns with stamps, woodcuts, printing with ropes, stencilling letters à la Albers, etc. Sometimes we had over 30 participants, the workshop was bursting at the seams, and the atmosphere was fantastic.

Generally speaking, what do you find interesting about the Bauhaus?

The Bauhaus continues to interest me because of its diversity of art and design disciplines. For me, there’s no end in sight. I’m also intrigued by the time and society in which the Bauhaus existed, and how it later evolved.

For the future Bauhaus-Archiv, I wish …

… that many interested visitors come from all over the world, and that the Bauhaus-Archiv is accessible to all. In terms of education, I wish that there is no hierarchy between digital and analogue methods, and that both levels can be equally appreciated.