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The 'Red Corner' of Communism: the Visual Language of Propaganda

Fri, November 10, 8:00 to 9:45am, Marriott Downtown Chicago, Floor: 3rd, Dupage

Abstract

The “Red Corner” of Communism: the Visual Language of Propaganda

The "Red Corner" is a place for visualizing the cult for the communist leaders and it often had different dimensions. It could be situated in a building, entire room, or in a small center in a room. This "corner" belonged to the sacred elements of the ideology and multiplied approved images, narrative clichés, and visual messages tailored for the particular political environment. The presence of the "Red Corner" in every enterprise and organization (in companies, schools, barracks) was implemented with various transformations of the space and lead to unexpected uses. The photo images in the albums collection of the Rousse socialist factories are an evidence of the "life" in “red corners,” and the oral stories about these red corners add density to the various transformations of these spaces.

("... In the red corner has a chair, an English chair. They say that it has remained from the old environment." From "The Twelve Chairs" by Ilf and Petrov)

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