bauhaus lighthouse: der bau als buehne das buehne als bau

The function of light is explored in relation to the Bauhaus stage,as an articulator of space and architectural tool.Moholy Nagy's visionary approach to aethetics is demonstrated through analysing his Lichtrequisit fuer Elekrischen Buehne (light Prop for an Electric Stage) and his plans for a mechanised stage production, Mechanischen Exzentrik (Mechanised Eccentric). Other figures active on the Bauahus stage who used light as an active stage tool include Schlemmer, Kandinsky, Schwerdtfeger and Hirschfeld-Mack, and this essay links the visionary element of Modernism with their efforts radically to transform the stage space, both its purpose and its reception.