Art & Communism – Artworks & exhibitions

Olympic Flame mosaic at the end of the central hall in the metro station Olimpiiska, Kyiv, Ukraine feat

Olimpiiska – One of Kyiv’s most intriguing metro stations

Architecture, Installations, Mosaics / 4 minutes of reading

The Olimpiiska Station, located in Kyiv, Ukraine, stands in the same spot as the former Ploshchad Lev Tolstoy station and serves as a prime example for Soviet-era art. This period was marked by strict censorship and ideological control, with art expected to align with state interests and promote communist ideology. It is a part of […]

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Carl De Keyzer in North Korea, the most mysterious country

Documentary photography, Photography / 5 minutes of reading

North Korea is one of the most enigmatic countries in the world, with limited access by foreign media as well as tourists. Everything in this last communist state is controlled by the government – from an ideological, cultural, and political perspective in the world. Nevertheless, Belgian photographer Carl De Keyzer became one of the few

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Zeng Fanzhi’s Last supper – One of China’s most expensive paintings

Paintings / 4 minutes of reading

Zeng Fanzhi’s The Last Supper is one of the most noteworthy Asian contemporary pieces of art. Throughout his career, Zeng Fanzhi has been working to make Chinese art more popular. His artwork is known for offering an honest critique of the contemporary Chinese lifestyle while creating a much-needed dialogue between Eastern and Western philosophies. His

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Andy Warhol’s Maos – Everything you should know

Paintings / 8 minutes of reading

It is a well-established fact that Andy Warhol achieved celebrity and was recognized by a vast majority of artists as being one of the pioneers of the pop art movement. Not only was he celebrated for his unique ability to transform day to day objects such as Campbell soup cans into works of art, but

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Philippe Chancel & Eerie North Korea – A look behind the curtain

Photography / 2 minutes of reading

Philippe Chancel’s photographs from North Korea are simply remarkable. Chancel joins the ranks of the few photographers in the world that have actually managed to document the impenetrable nation of North Korea. For more than half a century, this enigma of a country has been the personification of a rogue state; North Korea is an

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African-Renaissance-Monument-Le-Monument-de-la-Renaissance-Africaine-2010-–-Dakar-Senegal-feat

North Korea’s Mansudae Art Studio & their overseas projects

Sculptures, Statues / 20 minutes of reading

Artwork from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has always been a trademark for modern socialist realism. Although North Korea is well known for being the most secretive nation in the world, the largely unknown nation is certainly not shy when it comes to publicizing their statues, monuments, grand festivals, and celebrations. In particular, a

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Phillipe Chancel in North Korea – Photos of the Arirang Mass Games

Photography / 3 minutes of reading

Every year, North Korea holds a lavish and extravagant celebration for its ruler known as the Arirang celebrations, held at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang. The Arirang celebrations can be classified in the same category as the Olympic celebrations. The audience is always treated to a highly choreographed show, the likes of which have

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Why did Ai Weiwei break this million-dollar Han Dynasty vase?

Performances / 4 minutes of reading

Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn as an artwork is brilliant and a work of total ingenuity, but in between the lines, it says a lot about the artist: his desire to court controversy. The return of Ai Weiwei to China after living in New York City for more than a decade in 1981–1993 marked the

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Oliver Wainwright in North Korea – Pyongyang interiors & bizarre colors

Architecture, Photography / 2 minutes of reading

Oliver Wainwright North Korean Interiors documents the unique architecture and the interiors of various regions of North Korea and its capital Pyongyang. Not many photographers get the opportunity to explore this isolated country owing to its closed state; however, Wainwright took the opportunity and ran with it. The interiors that he documented were very kitsch

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Braco Dimitrijević’s casual passersby – These people are not famous

Installations, Photography / 7 minutes of reading

Braco Dimitrijević’s Casual Passer-By series are a series of canvas-based photographs created as from 1971. The works feature large-scale images of people that the artist met in the streets. Each piece comes with the exact time and place where the artist met with the person. However, he did not always put the exact date. These

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Eddo Hartmann’s Setting the Stage – North Korea in calm photos

Architecture, Photography / 7 minutes of reading

Despite being a highly secretive state, documentary images of North Korea have somehow managed to seep into the mainstream media in recent years. Those outsiders who have been granted access to the country are usually afforded limited freedom. As a result, the images they sneak out of the region typically are of totalitarian dictatorship, government-sanctioned

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Who is Korean painter Sea Hyun Lee?

Paintings / 2 minutes of reading

South Korea’s traditional illustrative and art history is immovable; however, cultural and artistic experimentation will always be relentless. Sea Hyun Lee demonstrates his understanding of just how true the above statement is through his art. He manages to join the two forces of past and present together to create Between the Red. Inspiration Sea Hyun

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Prohibited photos from world’s most isolated country – Michal Huniewicz

Architecture, Photography / 3 minutes of reading

A lot of attention was recently drawn to a series of photographs taken by London-based photographer Michal Huniewicz. These photographs are somewhat prohibited as they show the real side of North Korea. The only way how tourists can North Korea Tourists who want to visit North Korea are only allowed to do so through pre-arranged

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Fan Ho’s street photography: How Hong Kong looked like 60 years ago

Photography, Street photography / 11 minutes of reading

Born in Shanghai in 1931 but moved to Hong Kong early in his life, Fan Ho was a renowned actor, film director, and photographer who has won numerous awards (280 awards, empirically speaking) for his work since 1956. In his teens, he began to photograph the drama of city life, ranging from the teeming markets

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Conflict Kitchen - Iranian Takeout, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Conflict Kitchen – This is how conflict tastes

Installations, Performances / 2 minutes of reading

Conflict Kitchen is a unique restaurant in Pittsburgh focusing on one nation at a time, serving dishes from countries with which the United States is currently in conflict. Each Conflict Kitchen version is amplified by profound events, performances, publications, and discussions that strive to expand the public’s engagement with the culture, politics, and issues that

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Andreas-Gursky-–-Pyongyang-II-Diptychon-2007-c-print-207-x-2587cm feat

Andreas Gursky’s sensational photos of North Korea’s mass games

Photography / 2 minutes of reading

Renowned for his large-format color photographs charting themes of globalized society at work and play, Andreas Gursky’s production employs the digital technology to capture and refine an astounding compilation of detail on an epic scale. The perspective in many of Gursky’s photographs is drawn from an elevated vantage point. This position enables the viewer to

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Photographer Thomas Struth visits both North & South Korea

Photography / 3 minutes of reading

In March 2007, Thomas Struth went on a first trip to South Korea. He spent time in the two largest cities, Seoul and Busan, and visited religious and cultural sites, important landscapes and shipyards. At the vast DSME shipyard on Geoje Island, one of the largest in the world, he photographed tankers under construction and

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Art & Communism – Artworks & exhibitions

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