Museum Utopie und Alltag

An innovative network of curators and institutions has come together to open up new and surprising insights into the complex facets of the design landscape of a region that remains unknown to the broader (and in particular Western) public. With their extensive research work, the forces behind Retrotopia are making a decisive contribution to a long-overdue re-evaluation of the global and decolonial history of design.

Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces was initiated by the Kunstgewerbemuseum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in collaboration with: the Museum of Utopia and Daily Life (Beeskow/Eisenhüttenstadt), the Slovakian Design Center (Bratislava), the Slovak National Gallery Bratislava, the Moravian Gallery (Brno), the Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest), the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art (Kaunas), Museum of Contemporary Art NGO (Kyiv), Stedley Art Foundation (Kyiv), the Museum of Architecture and Design (Ljubljana), the National Gallery Prague, the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design (Tallinn), NGO Imago of Culture (Uzhorod), the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (Vilnius), the National Museum in Warsaw, and the Museum of Arts and Crafts (Zagreb), Chernihiv Monumentalism Community, ARWM Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund.

How do we want to live in the future? The exhibition in the Bauhaus Museum will examine aspects of this question between the two poles of longing and current crisis. Central to this are the topics of sustainability and social justice. “How do we want to live?” was, according to Gropius, the most pressing question of the day in 1923/1924.

Together with the photographer and author Martin Maleschka, Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege and Archäologisches Landesmuseum, the Museum of Utopia and Daily Life shows how art-rich Brandenburg is and at the same time addresses the responsibilities associated with this heritage.

The exhibition can be visited from 25 January to 8 December 2023, Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Landtag in Potsdam. It is closed on public holidays.

In the 1960s, rules became more relaxed, but a true breakthrough came in 1972: the GDR, ČSSR and Poland introduced laws permitting cross-border travel without a passport or visa. In the very first year of their introduction, millions of people took advantage of the new regulations, going on holidays, day trips and shopping tours to neighbouring countries.

The exhibition highlights these diverse travel experiences, going beyond the “Borders of Friendship”. It presents material evidence of tourism from the collection of the Museum of Utopia and Daily Life, other collections and archives, as well as private loans: including travel catalogues, posters, maps, holiday souvenirs, postcards, photo albums and 35 mm films.

Together with the photographer and author Martin Maleschka, Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege and Archäologisches Landesmuseum, the Museum of Utopia and Daily Life shows how art-rich Brandenburg is and at the same time addresses the responsibilities associated with this heritage.

The exhibition can be visited from 25 January to 8 December 2023, Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Landtag in Potsdam. It is closed on public holidays.

In the 1960s, rules became more relaxed, but a true breakthrough came in 1972: the GDR, ČSSR and Poland introduced laws permitting cross-border travel without a passport or visa. In the very first year of their introduction, millions of people took advantage of the new regulations, going on holidays, day trips and shopping tours to neighbouring countries.

The exhibition highlights these diverse travel experiences, going beyond the “Borders of Friendship”. It presents material evidence of tourism from the collection of the Museum of Utopia and Daily Life, other collections and archives, as well as private loans: including travel catalogues, posters, maps, holiday souvenirs, postcards, photo albums and 35 mm films.

Two cultures collided in 1989: daily life in the East and daily life in the West, in the various materials and forms that shaped their distinct lives. Today, if you look back, you may still detect overlaps, especially in the design of commonplace items like typewriters, kitchen mixers, and razors. While the Western world was predominately positioned above the Eastern world, the memory of the objects persisted there. The Dokumentationszentrum Alltagskultur der DDR (Documentation Center for Everyday Culture of the GDR ) in Eisenhüttenstadt, which is now the Museum für Utopie und Alltag (Museum for Utopia and Everyday Life), started collecting these objects with the help of citizens shortly after the fall of the Wall.

The artists’ collective U5 looked through the extensive collection at the invitation of curators Helene Romakin and Lea Schleiffenbaum. The purpose was to enable access through the morphology of things and products rather than to remeasure present history. In contrast to its utilitarian characteristics, morphology is more interested in the shape of an object (or work of art). What draws people to view or use the object? What connotations does it have? U5 combines their own miniatures, sculptures, ceramics, and non-German everyday items with items from the Documentation Center for Everyday Culture of the GDR in this exhibition. In doing so, they strip the GDR artifacts of their historical context. A recent video piece furthermore highlights the various narrative levels of the artifacts and shows their backgrounds. The show explores how old conversations can be reinterpreted, which stories are remembered and lost, and what more is left of youth’s yearnings than perfume, dripping candles, eggnog, and ozone records.

With I love Clark, U5 takes listeners through associations and recollections, where the superimposition of realities and presences allows for fresh interpretations and connections. Through a find of slides titled “Pictures from Antarctica” from the former German Central Institute for Teaching Materials Berlin in the collection holdings, U5 unfolded a possible approach via the Georg-Forster Antarctic Research Station established by the GDR in 1976. After the Berlin Wall fell between the political systems, the station, located 15,000 kilometers from home, persisted for several years. It did so by surviving the state in which it was created. Behind it are the scientific ozone measurements from the GDR that are well-regarded. Another story ran concurrently, detailing how female researchers traveled from the FRG to the distant Georg-von-Neumayer-Station.

The exhibition is supported by the Landeshauptstadt Potsdam, das Museum für Utopie und Alltag, Beeskow und Eisenhüttenstadt, and ProHelvetia. We also sincerely thank Gabriele Fritzsche of Casino Perfume Saxonia.

The exhibition is supported by the Landeshauptstadt Potsdam, das Museum für Utopie und Alltag, Beeskow und Eisenhüttenstadt, and ProHelvetia. We also sincerely thank Gabriele Fritzsche of Casino Perfume Saxonia.