Rainier Lericolais' Bauhaus Soundtrack for Kurt Schwerdtfeger's Light Play

The September 2019 issue of artpress features an essay by Thibaut de Ruyter on Rainier Lericolais' musical response to Kurt Schwerdtfeger's 1922 'Reflektorische Farblichtspiele' (Reflective Color Light Plays). Lericolais composed two tracks, each under four minutes, released as a digital album titled 'Die Bühne im Bauhaus' (The Bauhaus Stage). The music blends mechanical rhythms, harmonic dissonances, and contemporary clichés, evoking the 1920s, 1960s, and 2010s. By using the 45 rpm single format—typically associated with pop music and the 1980s Top 50—Lericolais merges 'ernste Musik' (serious music) with 'Unterhaltungsmusik' (entertainment music), aiming for a popular hit. The project coincides with the Bauhaus centenary and the traveling exhibition '26 x Bauhaus' at the Institut français de Mayence (September–October 2019). Schwerdtfeger's original performance took place in 1922 at Wassily Kandinsky's house in Dessau, one of the master houses designed by Walter Gropius. Only a few photographs survive in the first Bauhausbuch. In 1966, Schwerdtfeger rebuilt his machine with students at the school in Alfeld an der Leine—home to the Fagus factory by Gropius and Adolf Meyer—but died before the performance. Lericolais' work also references Schwerdtfeger's later figurative sculpture, a 1960 Triceratops over three meters long.