Revisiting Utopia: Modernist Housing in Cities of the Global North and South

Alongside the pure architectural and standardized urban design solutions to building a new world, modernism was accompanied by the ideas of a liberal, just society without restraints of colonialism, imperialism, rejecting old traditions and looking into the future. These ideas were applied both under capitalist and under socialist regimes, in the war-torn former imperialist states of the Global North as well as in the newly established post-colonial nation states of the Global South.

Political and social institutions developed in the USA and Europe after the First World War are strongly related to the architectural movement. For instance, public welfare system, social housing construction, protection of the environment and a liberal system of enabling participation. But the movement didn't stop in western countries - It spread all over the world and was at times met with criticism.

In the time since, modernist high rises proposed to aid the mass urban migration and provide affordable and/or social housing have been torn down, due to poor maintenance. Governing bodies have targeted revitalisation projects of this scale as a means of invigorating neighbourhoods also. However, in a neoliberal climate, this can have discriminatory implications. Some communities have responded by settling in informal housing or renovating without financial assistance – causing a very different aesthetic and outcome from which was historically anticipated.

Modernist housing policies can provide a concrete life improvement, but they can also be racially, economically and socio-spatially segregating. Hence we ask the question:
What was the role of modernist house in different contexts around the world? What is modernisms legacy in these Cities and how does society interact with the urban environment in the time since?
This exhibition presents the result of a Master's seminar reflecting on modernism, modernity and modernization through case studies in seven countries: Chile, Morocco, Russia, Serbia, UK, USA and Uzbekistan.

The installation can be enjoyed all night.

Participants
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Brigitte Zamzow, Lecturer at the Professorship for Urban Studies and Social Research, Institute for European Urban Studies, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism

Students from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Abderrahmane Remli, Bahar Amiri, Björn Teitsson, Charlotte Polak, Derrick Opoku, Egor Gavrilov, Elena Fiedler, Giacomo Mateev, Karina Almeida, Karoline Brüske, Leona Sandmann, Magdalena Köhne, Michael Cocciola, Miriam Neßler, Natalia Gushchina, Neyde Moncada, Philip June, Rossella Gugliotta, Uliana Zhomnir

Location
Fürstenhaus – University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar
Room 314