Ich bin ganz von Glas

The topic of the 7th international Marianne Brandt Award—“I am all of glass”—quotes a poem by the Bauhaus member, designer and artist. This bilingual volume does more than merely present the sixty competition entries: accompanying texts convey the utopian charge held by glass as a material in Modernism. Linda Pense, for example, writes about historical “glass states” that continue to be inspiring today. Freyja Hartzell reflects on the ways in which fantasies of glass shaped the foundational vision of Bauhaus. Using the artist Josef Albers as an example, Jeannette Redensek illustrates the metaphorical and functional importance of glass in Bauhaus design. The tension between poetry and functionality, which also characterizes the competition entries, demonstrates that glass remains a fascinating concept and material to this day.