The »Equity at Bauhaus« lecture series is entering its fourth round: Seven speakers from various fields will be focussing on equal opportunities and artificial intelligence in the 2024/2025 winter semester. They will be looking at topics such as digital colonisation, how prejudices are reproduced through AI, and questions around ethics in technology.

Maurice Halbwachs was an influential French sociologist who was deported to Buchenwald in 1944 during the reign of terror under the German National Socialist regime. He died at the concentration camp a few months later as a result of his imprisonment. Even today, there is nothing in Weimar to commemorate the renowned sociologist — something the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar aims to change, taking responsibility for acknowledging this part of history. In December 2024, the university will be renaming its largest lecture hall, the Auditorium Maximum, the »Maurice Halbwachs Auditorium« in his honour. For the BAUHAUS.INSIGHTS series, we spoke to Professor Henning Schmidgen and Professor Frank Eckardt, two of the individuals behind the initiative, about the sociologist and philosopher Maurice Halbwachs and their relationship to his work and his life.

Natural hazards and severe weather events put buildings under great stress. Junior Professor Anastasia Athanasiou is investigating how to plan and build tall, slender structures safely and in a resource-efficient manner. Since July 2023, she has held the newly established chair of Natural Hazards and Structural Resilience at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. A native of Greece, she previously worked at the University of Catania (Italy) and Concordia University in Montreal (Canada). In her inaugural lecture, she will report on the challenges of the past year and provide an insight into current research achievements.

In der dritten Veranstaltung der Weimarer Stadtgespräche in 2024 richtet sich der Blick auf ländliche Räume. Angesichts von demografischem Umbruch, Klimakrise und Aufstieg der extremen Rechten geht es um Fragen wie diese: Welches können Strategien und Entwürfe einer gerechten Transformation in ländlichen Räumen Thüringens sein?. Welche Akteure können einen gelingenden Wandel gestalten? Welche konkreten Utopien des Ländlichen können Orientierung bieten? Was ist die Rolle von Regionalpolitik und Raumplanung in Thüringen?

The »Gewohnter Wandel. Gesellschaftliche Transformation und räumliche Materialisierung des Wohnens« joint research training group from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt began their work on 1 October 2024. The research training group will be presenting itself during the winter semester to the public in a lecture series providing insights into current international housing research.

The Matriculation Ceremony on 16 October 2024 included not only a warm welcome to new students, it also honoured several students, an early-career scientist, and an early-career artist with Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Awards for their outstanding scientific and artistic/design work. President Prof. Peter Benz presented the awards and congratulated all winners in front of a packed Audimax.

From 18 October to 10 December 2024, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Sprachenzentrum | Centre for Language and Cultural Learning will be hosting a series of events at the Markt 21 Gallery in Weimar and exploring topics of democratic participation and European identity.

The rural Thuringian Forest is facing major challenges in managing the current social and ecological crises. But impending change provides opportunities. To identify these, many of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s Institute for European Urban Studies (IfEU) planning projects from October 2024 to July 2025 are focussing on the Thuringian Mittelgebirge, an area rich in tradition. Under the title »Räume in Transformation Thüringen« (RiTT), students from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism are working closely with local partners to develop ideas on how sustainable and geographically equitable development in the region could succeed.

From 21 to 25 October, university members have the chance to learn about the newest IT services offered by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar through two sessions each day in the University Library.

Seven video projects by MediaArchitecture students will be on display at the Elbphilharmonie Media Wall from 15 to 31 October as part of the City Digital Skin Art Festival in Hamburg. The festival also included prizes, among which were silver for Ayca Tugran and bronze for Kevin Blackistone. In addition, projects by five student teams were nominated to be presented at the festival.

Book Launch on Thursday, 24 October 2024 at 6 pm in the Lounge of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar University Library

Renato Cymbalista (São Paulo) ist vom Oktober 2024 bis März 2025 als Mercator Fellow im Graduiertenkolleg »Identität und Erbe« zu Gast. Er eröffnet am 15. Oktober 2024 die Ringvorlesungsreihe im Wintersemester 2024/25 mit einem Vortrag auf Englisch zu Erinnerungsarbeit und kulturellem Erbe in São Paulo, Brazil. Weiterhin vortragen werden – wie immer am Dienstagabend, 18.30 Uhr – Ibrahim Klingeberg-Behr, Gal Kirn, Thomas Schmidt-Lux, Chiara de Cesari, Johanna Blokker, Wolfgang Ullrich, Georgiy Kasianov und Larissa Förster. Die Vorträge finden in Weimar, Erfurt oder Berlin statt und werden digital übertragen.

Im Mittelpunkt der Jahrestagung Blue Shield Deutschland am 25. und 26. Oktober in Weimar steht das Thema »Kulturelles Erbe im digitalen Raum« und die damit verbundene digitale Transformation, die auch den Kulturgutschutz vor enorme Herausforderungen stellt.

On 9 October, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar welcomed its new employees with the new NEW@BAUHAUS format. All university members who have started working at since 1 January 2024 were invited to the event.

The new semester has begun: University members are back on campus after the summer months and are returning to learning, researching, teaching, and creating together in the 2024/2025 winter semester. As is the tradition, the Presidential Board hosted the university’s fall reception in the foyer of the Main Building on 9 October.

Die Weimarer Studentin Sonia Fernandes eröffnet am 14. Oktober in Suhl ihre Ausstellung zum Wandel der artenreichen Bergwiesen, die auf ein Forschungsprojekt im Rahmen ihres Studiums der »European Urban Studies« an der Fakultät Architektur und Urbanistik der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar zurückgeht.

Am 17. Oktober 2024, 18 Uhr, findet im Rahmen der Veranstaltungsreihe »Debating Heritage« des Internationalen Heritage Zentrums ein Vortrag zu Urlaubsarchitektur in der DDR und in Jugoslawien statt.

The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Matriculation Ceremony welcomes new students in the upcoming 2024/2025 winter semester. The start of the new semester marks not only the return of already-enrolled students back to campus, but also the beginning of an exciting new phase for many first-year students.