Comrade, fed up with those white capitalist tiles in the restroom of your favorite people’s bar or local workers’ canteen? Then why not tell the capitalist pig owner to change them to more pleasing images of the glorious socialist high rises of former Soviet countries.
This is what you will find in the Galeria Urbana restaurant in Kaunas, Lithuania, where the walls of the comfort station have been decorated with tiles featuring photographic images of Soviet-era high rises or “небоскреб.” The tiles are the work of Lithuanian design studio Gyva Grafika, who wanted to bring the “outside inside” and re-examine the country’s “dark Soviet occupation history” and the “culture that was introduced to [Lithuania] by force.” Many of these Soviet-era high rises are now being demolished or modernized under EU-sponsored renovation projects as Lithuania hopes to move “forward to a better and more optimistic tomorrow” as “a strong north European country.” It certainly provides a talking point over dinner and a distracting way to spend a penny.
Via Flashbak and Gyva Grafika.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Our Lenin’: Soviet propaganda book for kids, 1934
Rock it to Russia: Photos of punks in the Soviet Union
Soviet posters warn soldiers and civilians not to leak state secrets
The gory and grotesque art of Soviet antireligious propaganda
Weird bus stops of Soviet Russia
Relics of Russia’s near future: When progress comes to an end
Russian teenagers build ‘swimming’ pool in living room