Designers in the Soviet Union after WWII imagined a rich world of new consumer goods. Now, many of these ideas can be seen for the first time in the United States at the Zimmerli Art Museum’s exhibit Everyday Soviet.
Everyday Soviet explores industrial design between 1959 and 1989. During this period, Soviet designers created products with futuristic aesthetics that reflected their vision for a modern socialist society. However, many of these products never made it to consumers. Factories were resistant to change their production lines, and the Soviet planned economy encouraged people to maintain their old things rather than replace them.
The Zimmerli juxtaposes these innovative industrial designs alongside works of nonconformist art, Soviet art that did not follow the official standard of socialist realism. Many of these works were not explicit expressions of political dissent, but rather emphasized individual creative freedom. Curator of Russian and Soviet Nonconformist Art at the Zimmerli Art Museum Julia Tulovsky described the importance of bringing together nonconformist art and industrial design.
“While some of the most prolific nonconformist artists have gained recognition, Soviet designers, especially of this period, have remained largely in obscurity, and their connection to artistic movements under-studied. With this exhibition, we are reviving this aspect of modern design, and revealing little-known connections between functional objects and cultural experience as well as the confluence of inspirations between Soviet art and design at this time,” she said.
Everday Soviet was produced in collaboration with the Moscow Design Museum, which loaned over 300 objects to the Zimmerli. The exhibit runs through May 17, 2020.