Left: Nesting dolls system (left) and the multifunctional ball (right, reproduction from 2011); both by Teresa Kruszewska, Poland, 1975. © Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, 2023. Right: Domestic Information Machine (DIM) project, VNIITE design team—Evgeny Bogdanov, Vladimir Paperny, Vladimir Rezvin, Alexander Ryabushin, A. Sergeev, and POZITRON Leningrad Research and Development Association, GIRIKOND Research Institute, Soviet Union, 1969–1972. © Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, 2023.
Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Interior Spaces

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52200/docomomo.73.12

Keywords:

socialist interior, Retrotopia, dwelling, standardization, housing exhibition, kitchen design, open form

Abstract

This exhibition review, in the format of a visual essay, presents a selection of projects shown in the exhibition Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces. Initiated and organized by the Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum in 2023, Retrotopia was a comprehensive, cooperative project focusing on the role and impact of design in the countries belonging to the former Eastern Bloc and ex-Yugoslavia. Never before have these countries been represented together in one exhibition with their attendant material that helps to outline and raise awareness and understanding of the region’s design activities between the 1950s and the 1980s. Eleven design capsules were created, each highlighting two projects: one representing the public space and one the private sphere and the interior. The spectrum of interior projects and objects on display ranged from experimental housing exhibitions and cybernetic living machines to new furniture concepts, modular kitchen furniture, tableware, household tools, and toys for children.

How to Cite

Banz, C., & Huber-Doudová, H. (2025). Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Interior Spaces. Docomomo Journal, (73), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.52200/docomomo.73.12

Published

2025-08-22

Issue

No. 73 (2025): Modern Interiors in Times of Crisis

Section

Workshops and Exhibitions

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Claudia Banz, Helena Huber-Doudová

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Author Biographies

Claudia Banz, Weltmuseum in Vienna

Is a curator, author, art and design historian. Since 2025, she is the director of the Weltmuseum in Vienna. Since 2023, she is an associate member of the cluster of excellence Matters of Activity at Humboldt-University Berlin. From 2017 to 2024, she was curator for design and outreach at the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin. Previously, she headed the Art and Design Department at Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe Hamburg from 2011 to 2017. Banz has realized many international exhibitions, outreach formats, and fairs at the intersection of design, fashion, craft, and art, including Fast Fashion. The Dark Side of Fashion (2014-1018), Food Revolution 5.0. Design for Tomorrow’s Society (2017-2019), Connecting Afro Futures. Fashion x Hair x Design (2018-2019), the Design Lab series (2019-2023), Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces (2022-2023) or the interdisciplinary platform More than human. Design after the Anthropocene (since 2024). Banz is a member of numerous juries and publishes on social design and material culture.

Helena Huber-Doudová, National Gallery Prague (NGP)

Is the curator of the Architecture Collection of the National Gallery Prague (NGP). She completed her PhD studies in art history at the University of Zurich. She is a principal investigator for NGP of the research project Women in Architecture after 1945 in the Czech Republic (2021-2024). She was the commissioner of the Czech representation at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. Among the exhibitions she curated are No Demolitions! Forms of Brutalism in Prague (NGP, 2020) and permanent collection exhibition 1956-1989: Architecture for All. Lifestyle–Everyday–Media (NGP, 2022). She authored Rem Koolhaas as Scriptwriter. OMA Script for West Berlin (New York: Routledge, 2024).