Posters in the Socialism

Three years ago, when the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Tourism (Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum) moved from the Buda Castle to the touristic center of Pest near Saint Stephen's Basilica, the first temporary exhibition organized in its new building was "The Picture Book of the Street": a wide variety of commercial posters from between 1885-1945, accompanied by their contemporary reviews, and with a unique opportunity for visitors to design their own posters on the spot.
This time the exhibition entitled "We are Opening..." will include the 1945-1989 period, offering everyone a peek into the interesting world of the socialist era, through merchandise and slogans that reflect the various trends characterizing the decades between the World War II and the fall of the communist regime. Some posters are stuck on advertising pillars, but there are also sets constructed from enlarged pictures that look exactly like old streets, with typical store entrances and shop-windows filled with the advertisements of the most popular products.

About half of the population of Hungary still remembers late socialism, although mostly its bad influences - but those of them who would like to think about the nice days and take a nostalgic walk down memory lane, can easily evoke the atmosphere of their youth now. They can revisit the interior of grocery shops from their childhood, think about their very first Trapper jeans, see the ads of the best clubs of the seventies, and go back in time to their old living-rooms: armchairs that looked like seashells, china ornaments and knick-knacks, orange coloured tapestries, aluminum candlestick, huge radios and black-and-white television sets. Also they can show their kids a world where one could only buy one type of detergent and the peak of an ad was a famous actor reciting a rhyme.
The time travel can also be an interesting history lesson to foreign tourists, who can find out all about the everyday life of Hungarians who were stuck behind the Iron Curtain. They will get acquainted with the poor supply of provisions that were available (modest selections of canned and preserved food), they will see how some of the best graphic artists and painters of the time had to waste their talents creating posters representing the good moments of social realism. Due to the chronological placement billborads will show them the growth in the standard of living and the gradual evolution in the quality of technology: as a wider range of products and services become available, colour photographs and complex collages appear and take the first steps in trying to influence consumer behaviour.

It's been more than a month now since the exhibition opened and its items will stay on display until the 28th of February 2010 - if you are interested in this controversial period or in the finest of socialist deco design, it's time to visit the MKVM museum.