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socialism
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A travel through space and time | Fancy a room in a socialist hotel?
Apartments that can be expanded into a suite, room service, hotel bars, exotic fruits and currencies worth a fortune—a few decades ago, on our side of the Iron Curtain, these used to be the words that summoned hotel guests looking for something exciting and unfamiliar. Hotels, motels and inns
lifestyle
The absurd humor of political ceremonies—Interview with Nikola Mihov | Printed Pasts
Nikola Mihov is a Bulgarian artist, photographer, and curator based in Sofia. In his photobook He Breaks, He Cuts, He Spills (published by Janet 45 in 2021) we can see Todor Zhivkov, Bulgaria’s former Communist leader, doing three repetitive gestures during welcoming and opening ceremonies: breaking bread, cutting ribbons,
lifestlye
Fortepan presents a new collection from the socialist years
The latest selection of the photo collection is published under the title 40 years—4000 images, with famous Hungarian writers, directors, and photographers among the donors.
Whether you’re a history buff or a photography enthusiast, the Hungarian Fortepan archive is a must-see. Since they manage an unfathomable amount of
lifestyle
Fascinating Kádár cubes, or the divisive architectural legacies of socialism in Hungary
The strange cube, which as Hungarians we both like and hate, we see it as beautiful, but still think it’s ugly. It was an architectural creation of the communism in the Kádár era, the housing star of the 1960s and 1970s, and is still home to hundreds of thousands
design
Monstrous remnants of the Soviet regime: Tallinn’s Brutalist architecture | TOP5
Contrary to popular belief, Brutalist architecture is not closely related to socialism: the style first appeared in England in the 1950s. Still, in socialist countries such as Estonia, it became inseparable from the political system of that time.
Author: Zsófia Tóth
Brutalism was popular in the fifties, sixties, and seventies,
architecture
Where waiting is a pleasure | Peter Ortner’s Soviet Bus Stops photo series
Some people adore it, some are taken aback by it, and some cannot prescind from the historical past attached to them—but surely, the architecture of socialism cannot be ignored. German photographer Peter Ortner and his wife felt similarly, who unexpectedly fell in love with these extraordinary bus stops that
exhibition
Spatial music video: an unusual “origin story” of a song
A pink stage, a text drawing strange shapes on the wall, and flickering, fluctuating magenta lights in the background: we are in one of the exhibition spaces of the MODEM Modern and Contemporary Arts Centre in Debrecen. We took a closer look at the unusual exhibition of Polarism on the
business
Belarus, who failed | The transition to democracy in our region – Part V.
More than thirty years have passed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which left an enormous economic and political void in Central and Eastern Europe. In this series of articles, we explore the responses of the countries of the region to the new circumstances: how they could adapt to
design
Timeless design from socialism | Super Special Sneakers
One of the iconic Czechoslovak shoe brands of the socialist era was brought to life by a team of young creatives.
The co-founders of the Super Special Sneakers, Bulgarian Mariela Mitkova and Hristo Shiderov, saw the opportunity in sneakers after spotting them in a book. “While searching for timeless design,
art
A book celebrating the matchboxes of socialism
Did the designers of the former matchboxes think that they were not only designing a striking everyday object but enclosing a slice of the socialist era in a time capsule?
Her love of history and design flew Glasgow’s web designer Jane McDevitt to the library, where she came across
architecture
Hotel Budapest on your desk? Absolutely!
High-rise buildings reaching to the sky, façades evocative of UFOs and concrete everywhere! Our new collection, SOC/MOD is here, bringing the emblematic structures of the region to life in the form of miniature concrete buildings and prints—and now they are up for grabs! Attention: extra limited quantities!
With
east
„People, drink, drink more milk!” | Milk buffets, milk bars, milk bistros
Cocoa, milk, rice pudding, milkshake, but even deviled eggs, ham roll-ups, and
jellied tongues were awaiting customers in the display cabinet of milk bistros.
The milk bars also referred to as “the grocery store of the penniless” were
brought to life to promote modern and healthy eating, and become widely