Friday, 27 March 2015

Coded Designs

I was much struck with a photograph taken in Moscow 1990, by photographer David Hlynsky who visited the communist bloc before it collapsed. His mission was to capture the urban landscapes he found, and amongst them was the the shops of the communist East which he said "hid as much as they revealed, about the real economy".

USSR - Lipstick Advert
Moscow - 1990 - Lipstick

..... amongst his pictures was one that captured the moment when a very inventive shop window dresser, managed to make a one brand and one colour delivery of lipstick, into something really attractive to look at.

It reminded me as much as anything of the works of Polish writer Stanislaw Lem and the Soviet Robotic style of design .....  

Robots - Stanislaw Lem
Robots - Stanislaw Lem
 
A style that was peculiar to the Soviet era .....

Hello - I’m a Robot!
Hello - I’m a Robot!

.... and was often a coded reference to the coldness of the Soviet system and regimes ... often it was the only criticism that passed by the censors, who failed to see it for what it was. Now of course, despite our ongoing political differences both East and West are united in consumerism.

2 comments:

  1. It is a very striking image. It might be interesting to find out if the window dresser went on to bigger and better things in the new Russia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't suppose anyone would remember it after all these years but a nice thought. Thanks for comment Joan

      Delete

All comments are welcomed, or even just thanks if you enjoyed the post. But please make any comment relevant to the post it appears under. Off topic comments will be blocked or removed.

Moderation is on for older posts to stop spamming and comments that are off topic or inappropriate from being posted .... comments are reviewed within 48 hours. I don't block normal comments that are on topic and not inappropriate. Vexatious comments that may cause upset to other commentators, or that are attempting to espouse a particular wider political view, are reviewed before acceptance. But a certain amount of debate around a post topic is accepted, as long as it remains generally on topic and is not an attempt to become sounding board for some other cause.

Final decision on all comments is held by the blog author and is final.

Comments are always monitored for bad or abusive language, and or illegal statements i.e. overtly racist or sexist content. Spam is not tolerated and is removed.

Commentaires ne sont surveillés que pour le mauvais ou abusif langue ou déclarations illégales ie contenu ouvertement raciste ou sexiste. Spam ne est pas toléré et est éliminé.