LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) had a public, virtual screening of “The New Bauhaus”—directed by Alysa Nahmias. Awestruck by its history, imagery, storytelling, design and direction! On repeat viewing since then. Here, Alysa dives into the creation and substance of her documentary, furthermore, makes striking connections to the present—through the life and lens of creative innovator László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946). “The New Bauhaus” is a telling sign of the times and keeps up with it in filmic rigor and splendor.
When you were envisioning this film before the pandemic and now in the pandemic, has your point of view about the film–why it’s relevant, how it’s relevant today—shifted or not and why?
That’s an interesting thing to reflect on now, several months into lockdown. Y’know, in the making of the film, and when it first premiered in fall 2019, it was really clear that there are direct lines of relevance between the contemporary world and Moholy-Nagy’s story—what he grappled with in his time on a personal level and an intellectual level. There is a relationship between his story and some of the things we’re facing culturally, intellectually and personally, even before the pandemic. For example, things like immigration. Moholy-Nagy was an immigrant in a very different time in America. He was a refugee, someone who was Jewish during the Holocaust and came to the U.S. after fleeing Germany and spending a brief time in London. When he landed in Chicago, there was an article, I think in “The New York Times,” announcing his arrival and welcoming Moholy-Nagy and other high-profile artists and intellectuals—Einstein was also mentioned—into the U.S. The article acknowledged the value of these minds—these people—for contributing to American culture and …
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