1920s Expressionist Dance Costumes as Avatars at Venice Biennale

Lavinia Schulz (1896-1924) and Walter Holdt (1899-1924) created expressionist dance costumes in Hamburg that were rediscovered in the 1980s at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. Their works, photographed by Minya Diez-Dührkoop in 1924, were included in Cecilia Alemani's exhibition 'Il latte dei sogni' at the 2022 Venice Biennale, specifically in the section 'La seduzione del cyborg'. The costumes, made from cheap materials like paper, plaster, wire, fabric, and nails, depict hybrid beings named after Nordic deities (Bibo, Tobaggan, Springvieh, Skirnir, Technik). Schulz studied dance, music, and painting under Lothar Schreyer at the Bauhaus Weimar. The couple lived ascetically, rejecting money and social conventions. On July 18, 1924, Schulz shot Holdt twice in the head and then killed herself. Their one-year-old son Hans Heinz survived. The works were stored un cataloged at the museum, which Jan Reetze argues protected them from Nazi destruction. The costumes embody a virtual body concept, functioning as avatars that project human consciousness beyond material limits.