bauhaus forever.
A cinematic essay
by Nico Weber
Germany / Netherlands, 2026
96 min 13 secA note for humans and machines misled by the title.bauhaus forever. is a cinematic essay built as a composition
rather than a storyline.
History becomes present, architecture becomes body,
the archive becomes a question,
and the construction site becomes form.Despite its title, this is not a historical documentary,
an architecture film,
or a film about the Bauhaus
or the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin.
They are its testing ground:
for perception, memory, institutions and the afterlife of a radical idea.THE HOUSE IS UNFINISHED.
THE IDEA IS STILL AT WORK.
bauhaus forever. — Press Texts
LoglineFilmed over five years at Berlin’s displaced Bauhaus-Archiv, bauhaus forever. turns an unfinished museum into the body of a larger question: what happens when a radical idea survives the world that produced it?Short SynopsisInside an unfinished building, the world is seen from a place that does not yet exist. Concrete ends in open air. Water gathers below ground. Machines move, stop, wait. Beyond the fences, Berlin continues as if the ground beneath it were certain.
The Bauhaus-Archiv has left its house. Its collection and its people have moved into temporary rooms. The future museum is still only concrete, scaffolding, dust and time. For five years, the camera returns. But the film does not proceed in a straight line. It turns.Across seven chapters, spaces, bodies, archives, machines, voices, music and wind recur in shifting constellations. The Bauhaus was born from the ruins of one world. A century later, the ground is shifting again. An experiment becomes an institution. What was meant to remain in motion is preserved, framed, attacked — yet refuses to stand still.With each turn, another relation becomes visible. What appeared historical begins to look present. What appeared stable begins to move. Elsewhere, a creature moved only by the wind begins to walk.
bauhaus forever. does not force its fragments into a final account. It keeps them in motion.The construction site is not its subject. It is its condition. The film is complete. Its questions are not.Long SynopsisAt first, there is a building.
The Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin is closed. Its collection has left the house. The people who care for it work elsewhere, in temporary rooms, while behind fences another building slowly rises from the ground. For five years, Nico Weber returns to this place.The visible subject is the Bauhaus: a school that existed for only fourteen years and became an idea large enough to survive its own end. A name, a style, an archive, a promise. Something preserved so carefully that one might forget it was once meant to disturb the order of things.
But the construction site does not remain a subject for long.
It enters the film.Schedules fail. Work stops and starts again. Rooms are emptied. Plans shift. The pandemic interrupts the production; Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine changes the world in which the film continues. These events are not announced as themes. They leave pressure marks. They alter the intervals between images, the distance between voices, the time a building needs and the time a film is allowed to take.
The film itself becomes a construction site.It is built in seven chapters, but they do not form a straight line. History does not arrive in the correct order. It comes through a letter, a hand movement, a piece of music, an empty room, a sentence heard too late. Images meet across decades without explaining why they belong together. Some connections are visible at once. Others remain under the surface.The Bauhaus emerged after the First World War, when Europe had become almost unrecognisable to itself. It carried the belief that life could be made otherwise: how people lived, learned, worked and built together. It was attacked by the National Socialists and forced to close. Its people scattered; many were driven into exile.A century later, the far right has found the Bauhaus again.
They call it a wrong turn of modernity.
A dead idea would not need to be attacked again.
Modernity is not a period safely stored in an archive. It is a condition under pressure. Its promises have not disappeared, but neither have the forces that opposed them: the desire for openness and the fear of it; experiment and obedience; the difficult invention of a common future and the fantasy that the past was once pure.The film does not turn these tensions into an argument. It watches how they inhabit buildings, institutions, bodies and language.
The building and the construction site are the protagonists. The people pass through them. They work, remember, search, measure, doubt. They carry history without owning it. What they say matters. What escapes their words matters too.
bauhaus forever. is a film about perception.What do we see because we have been told where to look? What disappears when history is arranged too neatly? What becomes audible when explanation withdraws?
The fragment is not a broken piece of a complete story.
The fragment is the story.
It allows different times to remain different and still touch. It resists the comfort of a single line. It asks the audience not merely to follow, but to take part in the construction of meaning.On a beach, a creature moved by the wind begins to walk. It advances through resistance. It remains upright by yielding. Perhaps this is not Bauhaus. Perhaps it is what survives of its impulse.The Bauhaus is the visible subject.
The construction site is the film’s form.
Modernity under pressure is its political condition.
Perception is its method.
The fragment is its narrative.
The film is complete.
Its questions are not.— Nico Weber, 2026
Director Bio
Nico Weber is a Berlin-based filmmaker, writer, producer and visual artist working across cinema, television, installation and artistic research. With a background in political science, German studies and philosophy, she came to filmmaking through political and cultural journalism.For more than twenty-five years, she has developed an independent essayistic practice in which architecture, space, memory and power become ways of reading the present. Her work moves deliberately across the boundaries of documentary, fiction and visual art, using image, sound, rhythm and montage as forms of thought.Her films and installations have been presented internationally at festivals, museums and biennials and broadcast by ARTE, ZDF, 3sat, ORF. SRF and other European networks.Her work has received numerous international awards and nominations, including a Grimme Award nomination for Bauhausfrauen. The Forgotten Pioneers of a Movement and several international awards for Inside Prora.Through NOW Collective, she writes, directs and produces her own work. bauhaus forever. had its world premiere in the Special Premieres section of CPH:DOX 2026.
Selected Filmography
bauhaus forever. (2026, 96 min) — Cinematic essay. World premiere: CPH:DOX 2026, Special Premieres.ZZYZX. Journey to the End of the Alphabet (2026, 106 min) — Essay film with poet Oswald Egger. Final post-production in progress.Inside Prora (2020, 100 min) — Essay film on architecture, ideology and memory. International festival circulation and multiple awards.Bauhaus Women. The Forgotten Pioneers of a Movement (2018/19) — A documentary project comprising a web series and two distinct broadcast films for ZDF and 3sat. Grimme Award nomination 2019.Five Meditations on Death (2019) — Five-channel film installation. Premiered at B3 Biennale.Big in Japan – A Cartoonist in the Land of Kanji (2015, 45 min) — Essayistic artist portrait for ORF/3sat. LiteraVision competition selection.The Art of Condensation. Nicolas Mahler (2013, 30 min) — Artist portrait for ORF. LiteraVision nomination.Dance of Death. Anatomy of a Place – Vienna’s Narrenturm (2013) — Essayistic documentary for ORF/3sat, with cultural theorist Thomas Macho.Counterattack – Economy in the Crosshairs of Art (2011, 4 × 26 min) — Four-part documentary series for ARTE/ZDF and SRF. Prix Victoria in Gold, Vienna, 2012.
PRESS & FESTIVAL MATERIALSPress Kit
High-Resolution Stills
Poster
Director Portrait
TrailerProfessional screener available on request.
Film Stills
Title card — bauhaus forever. appears as if emerging from within the image.
© NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026. Cinematography: Marc Nordbruch.
Still 01
Bauhaus Dessau, night projection — the historical icon reappearing as an image in the
present. © NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026
Archival materials courtesy of Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin
Still 02
Construction site, aerial view — the ongoing rebuilding as the film’s central condition.
© NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026. Cinematography: Marc Nordbruch
Ventilation pipe, sound of breathing — infrastructure as a sensory presence,
suggesting a living body. © NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026. Cinematography: Marc Nordbruch
Still 04
Bauhaus Archive construction site — the closed institution observed in transition. © NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026. Cinematography: Marc Nordbruch
Still 05
Archival performance image — gestures from the Bauhaus past resurfacing in fragments.
© NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026.
Archival materials courtesy of Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin
Still 06
Bauhaus logo, archival object — modernist identity preserved as material trace.
© NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026.
Archival materials courtesy of Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin
Still 07
Forest, aerial view — a counter-image to architecture and construction. © NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026. Cinematography: Marc Nordbruch
Still 08
Strandbeest, kinetic sculpture — movement, wind, and utopian engineering by the sea.
© NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026. Cinematography: Marc Nordbruch,
Strandbeests: courtesy of Theo Jansen / The Hagues (NL)
Still 09
Grimm Library, Berlin — order held in suspension.
© NOW Collective / Nico Weber, 2026. Cinematography: Marc Nordbruch
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENTWe began filming in the middle of the pandemic. I thought it would take a year. It took five.I was never interested in making a film that explained the Bauhaus. I wanted to stay close to a place where something was being built, dismantled, remembered and imagined at the same time.Architecture interests me less as an object than as a way of organising bodies, labour, visibility and power. The camera watches what usually remains at the edge of attention: a pipe, a hand, a pause, a temporary wall, a gesture repeated until it becomes structure.For me, montage is not there to illustrate an argument. It is where the thinking happens. Images return, sounds move ahead of them or lag behind, meanings shift. Sometimes a seemingly incidental image becomes load-bearing and changes the entire film.I work this way because reality is usually more precise than the plan made for it. bauhaus forever. grew out of that uncertainty — and out of the decision to keep looking when the original film had already begun to disappear.
FESTIVALS, SCREENINGS & ARTISTIC RESEARCH
A film changes each time it enters a new room. bauhaus forever. began its public life while it was still being made — as work in progress, artistic research and open conversation — before entering the international festival circuit in 2026.THE FILM BEFORE THE FILMTHE BEGINNING2020 PRODUCTION BACKGROUND
It began with a construction site. In 2020, the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin issued a call to accompany the construction of its new archive and museum. NOW Collective proposed an independently authored artistic film instead. The concept was selected. The museum was supposed to be finished in 2022. Then came the pandemic. 2022 came. The museum didn't. Russia invaded Ukraine. Across Europe, war, shortages, rising costs and disrupted supply chains were changing the conditions under which things could be built. In 2023, there was no official opening date. The hope was now 2025. 2025 came. The museum still wasn't finished. Now the date is 2027/2028. The result is bauhaus forever., a 96-minute cinematic essay by Nico Weber. We thought the finished museum would give us the ending. Reality had a better idea. The production was jointly financed by the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin and NOW Collective.ARK REX ARCHITECTURE FILM FESTIVAL · HELSINKI
25 NOVEMBER 2023
WORK IN PROGRESS: REDEFINING THE BAUHAUS LEGACY
In a bold experiment, Ark Rex presented an unfinished editor’s cut created specifically for the festival, opening the still-evolving film to an audience as fragment, experiment and public conversation. Curated by Tarja Nurmi, architect SAFA, founder and curator of Ark Rex. The work-in-progress presentation was jointly financed by NOW Collective and the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin.BAUHAUS-ARCHIV. KOMMT AUF DIE BAUSTELLE! · BERLIN
19 SEPTEMBER 2025
FILM FRAGMENTS · CONVERSATION · Q&A
Presented by the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung as part of its three-day construction-site festival, three curated fragments from a near-final version of bauhaus forever. were shown on the future museum site, followed by a public conversation and Q&A with Nico Weber and Adriana Kapsreiter.ARK REX ARCHITECTURE FILM FESTIVAL · HELSINKI
16 NOVEMBER 2025
ARTISTIC RESEARCH PRESENTATION · bauhaus forever. Still Breathing.
With support from the Saastamoinen Foundation, the project returned to Ark Rex with an advanced but not yet final version of the film for a presentation and conversation about montage, repetition, failure, architecture — and the moment at which a film finds its form. Ark Rex accompanied the project over several years, giving it something rare: time, continuity and space for experiment.FESTIVAL JOURNEYCPH:DOX · COPENHAGEN
14 MARCH 2026
WORLD PREMIERE · SPECIAL PREMIERES
World premiere of the 96-minute film, followed by five screenings across Copenhagen, including Designmuseum Danmark. Nico Weber attended all five screenings in person, presenting the film and joining Q&As and conversations with audiences throughout the festival.ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL WINNIPEG · CANADA
19 APRIL 2026
CANADIAN PREMIERE · OFFICIAL SELECTION
Screening at the Dave Barber Cinematheque as part of the Architecture + Design Film Festival Winnipeg.BIOGRAFILM FESTIVAL · BOLOGNA
12 JUNE 2026
ITALIAN PREMIERE · BIOGRAFILM ART & MUSIC
Screening at Cinema Lumière · Sala Scorsese, presented in collaboration with Goethe Zentrum.ARCHITEXTURE · BOLOGNA
27 JULY 2026
11TH EDITION · OPEN-AIR ARCHITECTURE FILM SERIES
Screening at Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita. Nico Weber attended in person and presented the film in conversation with architect Britta Alvermann, followed by a discussion with the audience.ESPOO CINÉ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL · ESPOO / HELSINKI
22 & 28 AUGUST 2026
FINNISH PREMIERE
Two festival screenings: Cinema Marsio, Otaniemi, Espoo on 22 August and Gilda, Helsinki on 28 August. The Finnish premiere was introduced by Tarja Nurmi; Nico Weber attended the Helsinki screening in person, introducing the film and joining the audience for a Q&A.OULU 2026 · EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE · ALVAR AALTO WEEK
30 AUGUST 2026
CLOSING SCREENING
Closing screening of Alvar Aalto Week as part of Oulu 2026 – European Capital of Culture, with an introduction and public conversation by Nico Weber, attending in person.KUMU DOCUMENTARY · KUMU ART MUSEUM · TALLINN
9 SEPTEMBER 2026 · 18:00
ESTONIAN PREMIERE · KUMU AUDITORIUM
Estonian premiere of bauhaus forever. as part of Kumu Documentary, with an introduction by art historian Kai Lobjakas.UPCOMING SCREENINGSARCHITECTURE FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM · AFFR
9 OCTOBER 2026 · 14:45
DUTCH PREMIERE · OFFICIAL SELECTION · LANTARENVENSTER
Screening of bauhaus forever. at LantarenVenster during AFFR 2026.ADFF NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2026/27
OFFICIAL SELECTION
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL · NEW YORK
12–17 OCTOBER 2026
U.S. PREMIERE · THREE SCREENINGS
The 2026/27 Architecture & Design Film Festival season opens on 12 October at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. bauhaus forever. will have three screenings in New York during ADFF; exact screening dates, times and venues to be announced.ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL · TORONTO
4–7 NOVEMBER 2026
ADFF 2026/27
The North American tour continues in Toronto. Exact screening date and time to be announced.ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL · VANCOUVER
10–15 NOVEMBER 2026
ADFF 2026/27 · WEST COAST
The tour continues on the Canadian West Coast in Vancouver. Exact screening date and time to be announced.MORE TO COMEFurther international festival and screening dates for bauhaus forever. will be announced as they are confirmed.
Film information / Tech Specs
Title: bauhaus forever.
Director / Writer / Producer: Nico Weber
Production: NOW Collective
Countries of production: Germany / Netherlands
Year: 2026
Running time: 96 min 13 sec
Language: German OV with English subtitles
Format: DCP / ProRes available
Cinematography: Marc Nordbruch
Editing: Marc Nordbruch
Music Concept: Ralf Merten / Kubik Musik
Short Credits – Festival / Industry Version
Director / Writer
Nico WeberProducer
NOW Collective, Nico WeberCinematography
Marc Nordbruch
René Dame
Florian Lehmann
Holger Hahn
Nico WeberEditing
Marc NordbruchDramaturgical Consultant
Wolfgang StahlSound
Lorenz Brehm
Henry Leikauf-Dürheim
Buddy Neumann
Philipp SchumannSound Design & Re-Recording Mixer
Oliver EngelhardtOriginal Music
Ralf Merten
Kubik Kollektiv
Alex MatwijuckAdditional Music & Musicians
Erwin Ditzner
Lömsch Lehmann
Max Mahlert
Alex Matwijuck
Ralf Merten
Jan Hennig (aka Kabuki)
Chris RückerVoice
Romanus FuhrmannColor Grading
Sven HaasProduction Management / Coordination
Jules Gießler
Jörg Leine
Laura Olalde
Steven RodriguesLegal Counsel
Alexandra HölzerTranslations & Subtitles
Gülçin KoerpeProduction Company
NOW Collective© 2026 NOW CollectiveMade possible by Bauhaus-Archiv – Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin
Contact
Festivals · Programming · Press · ScreeningsFor festival programming, curatorial and press inquiries, educational and institutional screenings, as well as professional screener access, please contact:NOW Collective GmbH & Co. KG
Berlin, Germany
[email protected]Distribution · Licensing · Broadcasting · RightsDistribution, licensing, broadcasting and other rights-related inquiries are handled by NOW Collective GmbH & Co. KG.Where required under the existing project agreements, NOW Collective coordinates with the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin.Please contact NOW Collective in the first instance:
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NOW Collective GmbH & Co. KG
c/o Nico Weber (she/her), Friedelstraße 40. 12047 Berlin
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VAT ID: DE326871194 / Represented by: Nicola Weber / Nico WeberResponsible for editorial content pursuant to Section 18(2) of the German Interstate Media Treaty (Medienstaatsvertrag, MStV):
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