It is, we’d argue, fair to say that most people in western Europe still have a very stereotypical, skewed, if not prejudiced view of late 20th century design in and from those nations that form the eastern half of the European continent.

With Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, in cooperation with numerous museums and institutions from across eastern Europe, provide an introduction to post-War 20th century architecture and design in and from Croatia, the Czech Republic, East Germany, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Ukraine, and in doing so invite us all to begin to approach more probable and more meaningful positions……

A wooden chair by Viktor Holešťák-Holubár (l) and Vojtech Vilhan & Ján Bahna's chair for the Government lounge at Bratislava Airport (r), as seen at Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces at the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin

“March is the Month of Expectation.
The things we do not know”,

opined once the American poet Emily Dickinson.1

Easily enough resolved!!!

And no, not by “Persons of prognostication”, whom one should definitely always “show becoming firmness”; but by visiting an architecture or design exhibition and approaching that which you don’t know via your own inquiry and questioning and reasoning.

Our five recommended locations for transforming expectations into knowledge in March 2023 can be found in Berlin, Espoo, New York, Nyköping and Weil am Rhein…….

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for March 2023