Socialist Hotels

Socialist Hotels is a photographic project focused on the architecture of hospitality and leisure in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space, approached through a restrained visual language that highlights spaces, interiors, and details.

The project took shape in 2020, building on an interest cultivated over more than fifteen years in photographing buildings and urban landscapes, and has become a unifying thread connecting multiple strands of inquiry already present in the visual practice.

The series examines several themes: the typological progression from monumental classicism to socialist modernism, the refined retro aesthetic of interiors, the material culture of collective spaces, and the geopolitical context shaping their function and distribution.

Visits to hotels across the former Soviet bloc enabled the development of a coherent, layered archive, constantly expanding. Stays were often prompted by the desire to experience a particular building or to discover unexpected details: porcelain still bearing the original hotel logos, exceptionally striking wallpapers, and even breakfasts that, entirely by chance, appeared in unexpectedly glowing shades.

On occasion, the mere presence of a camera would provoke suspicion, adding an extra dimension to the act of documenting.

The images convey the tangible character of these places, from exterior volumes to everyday elements such as keys, handles, tiles, electrical sockets, and handrails, revealing design choices, construction standards, and the aesthetic sensibilities of the era.

Socialist Hotels is an ongoing project documenting a still relatively underexplored architectural heritage, offering a perspective on the twentieth century through its hospitality spaces.