Undergraduate and graduate students and professionals, with a general interest in intercultural context, and socially engaged artistic practices
The Secret Life of Objects: Archiving and Storytelling through Everyday Things
The Secret Life of Objects: Archiving and Storytelling through Everyday Things
This course explores how ordinary and overlooked objects can be archived and activated into powerful carriers for memory, identity and used as tools for storytelling and interaction. Students will first be introduced to theories and practices around objects, collections, and archives, engaging readings like Dawn Raffel’s The Secret Life of Objects, Yanagi Sōetsu’s The Beauty of Everyday Things, and Craig Staff’s The Materiality of the Archive. We will discuss how artists, museums, and archives work with material culture to provoke questions, preserve memory, and spark audience participation.
There will also be visits to archival and museum collections in Weimar (such as the Archiv der Moderne and Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Bibliothek) to conduct hands-on research. Each student will then select an object, ordinary or overlooked, and develop a creative archival project. These may take the form of interactive installations, conceptual collections, performative storytelling, or digital narratives.
The second week will conclude with a group-built “alternative museum,” where participants present their projects for the Bauhaus Summer School Open Studios. Together, we will reveal the surprising, layered lives of the objects around us.
Key Readings:
- Sue Breakell and Wendy Russell – The Materiality of the Archive: Creative Practice in Context (2024)
- András Szántó (ed.) – The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues (2020)
- Yanagi Sōetsu – The Beauty of Everyday Things (2019 translation by Brase, M.)
- Dawn Raffel – The Secret Life of Objects (2012)
- Don Norman - The Design of Everyday Things (2013 ed)
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Critically examine how objects and collections communicate cultural and historical narratives.
- Develop creative strategies to “activate” ordinary objects through storytelling and interaction.
- Conduct practical archival and object-based research in online and on-site collections.
- Collaborate to curate and present their work to a public audience
The course fee is 950 EURO.
750 EURO for students & alumni
390 EURO for BUW students as well as for Bauhaus4EU students (4 discounted places are available for Bauhaus4EU students)
The course fee includes:
- Orientation & Support
- Programme according to description
- Teaching materials
- Daily Lunch at the University Cafeteria (Monday - Friday)
- Certificate
- Internet access at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
- Free use of library
- Accompanying programme including excursions
- Free entrance to museums belonging to Klassik Stiftung Weimar
- Travel by public transport in Weimar
Please note our terms and conditions (admission conditions, cancellation conditions etc.)
The course fee does not include:
- Travel costs
- Accommodation
- Insurance
- Additional excursions
1. Online Registration
Please register first in our system.
Please follow the instructions on the page.
2. Documents
Please submit until 01/05/2026 the following documents:.
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CV
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Letter of motivation
ONLY COMPLETE AND CORRECTLY LABELED APPLICATIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED!
3. Selection Process
All applicants will receive notification about the outcome of the selection process as soon as possible via e-mail. In case of a positive answer you will receive the invoice simultaneously which you will have to pay within 10 days. If applicants fail to do this, places will be given to others on the waiting list.
If you need a VISA, we recommend you to get informed now about the requirements and to make an appointment with the German embassy in your home country.
A maximum of 20 applicants will be selected to participate in this course.
After successful completion of the language course, you will receive a certificate of participation issued by the Bauhaus Summer School.
Participants earn 3 credit points (ECTS) after completion of the two-week course. In order to receive credit points, t is necessary to attend at least 80% of the course lessons and to fulfil the required tasks.
Prior to your participation, it is essential that you clarify whether your home university will recognise the foreign credits you intend to earn.
If you would like to receive a grade, you should discuss this with the teacher at the beginning of the course! The fulfilment of additional tasks may be necessary.