UTOPIA

The term "Utopia", coined by Sir Thomas Morus in 1516, describes a society in which common ideologies and principles apply and in which the value of private property and money is to be abolished. Since the 1960s, a variety of communities around the world have attempted to translate this abstract intellectual notion into alternative ways of living. In many cases, these efforts have paid off, at least temporarily. Today, those communities that have survived face a whole new set of challenges in surviving under the pressures of our dominant, Western culture.

In an effort to visually define what is meant by utopia today, Italian photographer Carlo Bevilacqua explored settlements in Denmark, France, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain and Wales, in the USA, Canada and India, where the inhabitants are trying to implement various alternative ways of life. Bevilacqua's project "Utopia" documents how these communities have developed since their foundation and how close they have come to realising the original utopia on which they were founded.

Photographer: Carlo Bevilacqua

Venue: Kulturort Depot (gallery), Immermannstraße 29, 44147 Dortmund, Germany

Opening: 01.06.2023 at 19:00

Artist Talk with Carlo Bevilacqua: 02.06.2023 at 19:00 (in English)

Free admission. No registration necessary.