STUDENT EXHIBITION #1
Unedited fragments

by László MOHOLY-NAGY
1943 / 16mm / color / silent / 1S / 9' 00

Unedited fragments

At the end of the school year, students presented their work in an exhibition. The film begins with the production of wood hand sculptures and delicate wooden plates and bowls produced on a lathe. Moholy-Nagy in his signature white lab coat walks among students at work.

Other student exercises are shown, including different forms of texture charts, a pillow of metal screening, a paper cutting exercise, weight-bearing paper struts, objects illustrating how wood can be made flexible, leading to the development of various forms of wooden springs for use in mattresses and chairs. The development of the Z-spring and its use in an armchair and in a mattress for a bed are demonstrated.

Views of the annual student exhibition showing photography, hand sculptures, and paper constructions.

A chair of bent plywood and the electric press used to shape it. An assortment of woven textiles from the Weaving Workshop is shown to a woman, seated in the plywood chair.

NOTES ON FIVE SHORT UNEDITED FILM FRAGMENTS ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF DESIGN IN CHICAGO

Between 1940 and 1944, László Moholy-Nagy shot a number of short movies that documented the activities and projects of the design school he directed. The school had been founded in Chicago in 1937 as the New Bauhaus: American School of Design, but it was closed after only one year. In 1939 Moholy-Nagy founded another school, the School of Design in Chicago, which was reorganized and renamed the Institute of Design in 1944. In 1956 the Institute of Design became a department of the Illinois Institute of Technology, where it continues today.

Five original films have survived. They are unedited, leftover footage that Moholy-Nagy used to produce a longer film called Design Workshops in 1944, which showcased the operation of the recently renamed Institute of Design. All of Moholy-Nagy’s movies about the school were shot on 16 mm Kodachrome film. The films are silent and without intertitles.

The original film footage, as well as other important documents, are preserved in the (Elmer) Ray Pearson Institute of Design Collection of the Chicago History Museum, formerly the Chicago Historical Society. The titles and dates were probably added by Pearson.

– Hattula Moholy-Nagy, 15 April 2024

1 PRINT IN DISTRIBUTION


distribution format Digital file on server (FHD)
screen 16/9 (single screen)
speed 29,976 fps
sound silent
rental fee 42,00 €