The forgotten Bauhaus architect from Kassel: exhibition on Katt Both
Katt Both is an example of female architects who remain invisible behind their work. Although Katt Both was significantly involved in the development of key "Neues Bauen" projects of the 1920s and 30s, such as the Marie-von-Boschan-Aschrott retirement home and the Rothenbergsiedlung in Kassel, she is largely forgotten today. An exhibition at the Kunsthochschule Kassel from February 11 to March 8 sheds light on the history and uses original photos, plans and documents to show, among other things, Katt Both's highly productive phase up to 1933.
The exhibition is organized by the Department of Design and Building Theory at the University of Kassel. It is based on the recently rediscovered estate of the architect, designer and photographer, who was born in Waldkappel in 1905 and died in Kassel in 1985. An accompanying program continues the contemporary discourse on the exhibition themes.
The emancipation of a talented young woman, coming from the Kunstgewerbeschule Kassel, via Burg Giebichenstein in Halle to the Bauhaus, her photographic experiments and self-staging as a New Woman, her first professional stations with Fred Forbat, the Luckhardt brothers and Alfons Anker in Berlin and in the Otto Haesler office, her own projects as well as her commitment to social, utility-oriented and new communal forms of living are all committed to the belief in a new and democratic society. The Aschrott retirement home and Rothenbergsiedlung in Kassel, on which she worked, are now icons of modernism and were shown in the legendary "Modern Architecture" exhibition at the MoMA Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1932. The mayor of Kassel, Hans Herbert Stadler, traveled especially to the opening.
Anyone who is not yet familiar with the images of the New Woman of the 1920s can gain a unique insight into the period from the large number of photographs in the exhibition. They are supplemented and commented on by current photographic and filmic works by Christina Gradtke and Leonard Volkmerfrom the Intermedia Photography class in the artistic field of the Kunsthochschule and by international positions, such as recently discovered early photographic works by Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz or the film MANDA, which Isa Rosenberger created in collaboration with Celia Millan 2023 on Oskar Schlemmer's Stäbetanz.
The examination of social housing and solutions in rationalization, which are once again topical after 100 years, takes a look at the parallels between modernism and the situation today. The exhibition focuses on the gaps and discovered ruptures in Katt Both's biography. Like all architects, Katt Both had to register with the Reich Chamber of Culture in 1938 in order to be able to practise her profession in Germany. In 1942, Katt Both became a member of the National Socialist Party and was employed by the Deutsches Frauenwerk. From there, she wanted to help shape social housing construction in the post-war period, but after five months she moved to the office of Bauhaus architect Ernst Neufert.
The exhibition will open on February 10, 2026 at 6 pm in the exhibition hall of the Kunsthochschule Kassel. The patron, Lord Mayor Dr. Sven Schoeller, and the President of the University of Kassel, Prof. Dr. Ute Clement, will speak. The closing and finissage is March 8, International Women's Day. Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm. Free admission.
Background:
The discursive exhibition was developed, conceived and realized by the students of the Department of Design and Building Theory of Prof. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs at the University of Kassel with the art historian Dr. Ute Maasberg. Contributions by students of the class for Intermedia Photography in the Artistic Field, Prof. Peggy Buth of the Kunsthochschule Kassel and the Department of Landscape Aesthetics in Design by Prof. Fanny Brandauer of the University of Kassel as well as international art positions, selected by the independent curator Sabine Kienzer, contextualize the life and work of Katt Both.
The event is sponsored by: Pfeiffer Foundation for Architecture, Kasseler Sparkasse, City of Kassel, University of Kassel, GWG Kassel, Office for Equal Opportunities of the City of Kassel
Press source:
www.uni-kassel.de