Aya Soika, Professor of Art History, Explores German Art Movements of the First Half of the 20th Century

Prof. Dr. Aya Soika, Professor of Art History, sheds light on significant historical periods in  several presentations this spring on art and architecture movements in the early 1900’s.

On June 21, 2023, Soika will deliver a lecture titled Mies van der Rohe: The German Pavilion for the World at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (ZI) in Munich. This presentation examines the design process and ideological context surrounding Mies van der Rohe's design for the German pavilion for the 1935 World's Fair in Brussels. Through an exploration of documents from the architect's estate and other archives, Prof. Soika will delve into the question of what his exhibition building would have signified in terms of the liaison of modernist architecture and Nazi propaganda. The event will be broadcast on Zoom via this link.

This lecture follows Soika's recent paper presentation at the Klassik Stiftung Weimar’s Bauhaus und National-Sozialismus conference, on Mies van der Rohe and the end of the Bauhaus. Held on May 23-25, 2023, the conference focused on the relationship between Bauhaus and National Socialism. Prof. Soika's contribution examined Mies van der Rohe's attempts to articulate his position in the face of Nazi ideology. A recording of this talk is available here on the Klassik Stiftung Weimar website. 

Beyond the Bauhaus movement, Prof. Soika's research encompasses German Expressionism. Her participation in a panel discussion titled “Fremdheit” (Foreignness) at the Neue Nationalgalerie explored Emil Nolde's painting "Papuan Boys" (1914), created in the German colonies in Papua New Guinea. It raises the question of Nolde’s potentially racist depiction and how to deal with his work in the exhibition space today. 

Additionally, Soika co-organized Expressionism Revisited at the Brücke Museum, where scholars explored the challenges of contextualizing, presenting, and mediating Expressionism. Video recordings of the first, second, and third day of the conference are available on Youtube. 

Soika's lectures and research demonstrate her unwavering commitment to deepening our comprehension of German art movements, from Expressionism to Bauhaus, within their rich historical contexts.

Post Date: 06-14-2023