A Study of 3D Stereoscopic Image Production of “Triadic Ballet” of the Theater of the Bauhaus

The Bauhaus covered all aspects of the visual arts: architecture, graphic design, sculpture, industrial design and stage performance, during its short 20th century life. Central figure Oskar Schlemmer (1883–1943) ushered in the golden age of the Bauhaus theatre and is known for his dedication to spatial design. His experience of the space comes not only from visual observations but also from the movements and physical interactions of the dancers with the performance space. He observes the trajectories of the human body in the space and transforms them into abstract geometric figures to explain the inner meaning of the dancers in the “stage cube”. Our team has been working on the Theater of the Bauhaus, and in 2020 received funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan for our research on “Triadic ballet”. We successfully reproduced fragments of three ballets that Schlemmer exhibited in Stuttgart in 1922. Through this reproduction, we learn more about Schlemmer’s research; and his thoughts on “people and space” and “artistic images,” including his belief that new theatrical forms will eventually unfold over time. This research uses the principle of Pepper’s Ghost to create 3D virtual images. The results not only fulfill the prediction of Schlemmer’s space experiment but also force us to rethink how he transformed the concepts of “rational numbers” and “emotional people” into abstract art forms.