Competing Utopias

Two design cultures collide in this experimental exhibition. Competing Utopias communicates the ideal futures imagined in the East and the West in a three-story installation presenting architecture, furniture, decorative arts, film, and music. Modernist Eastern Bloc interior design objects from the Wende Museum collection replace the original furniture in the mid-century VDL Neutra House.

The Cold War was not only fought with guns, but also with art, design, and culture. Who would formulate the vision for the future of humanity? Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, historians, curators, and artists are investigating the similarities and differences between East and West through their aesthetic expressions of modernity. Form knows no political boundaries or foreign languages—in this most basic sense, the “cultural Cold War” was a global competition of ideas and ideals.

To provoke an unimpeded conversation about the contrasts and similarities of modernist design, the installation will not have physical labels. Digital information will be available online and on site-specific iPads for further exploration.

This installation is made possible by the generous support of The Graham Foundation.

Media Sponsorship provided by Los Angeles magazine.