Oliver Wainwright’s (@ollywainwright) Surreal Glimpse into Pyongyang’s Dreamlike Interiors [2015] When British architect and critic Oliver Wainwright stepped into North Korea, he wasn’t expecting color. What he found, however, was a fever dream of pink marble lobbies, turquoise staircases, and mint-green corridors, a cinematic illusion wrapped in propaganda gloss. His series Inside North Korea captures a country staged to perfection, where every curtain fold and pastel wall seems choreographed for a tourist who may never come. Through his lens, Pyongyang’s architecture reads like retro utopia: Soviet bones dressed in 80s optimism, newly repainted to signal progress, all part of a grand performance meant to sell the illusion of modernity. Yet behind the cotton-candy palette, Wainwright’s photos expose a managed fantasy where spontaneity doesn’t exist, and beauty is state-engineered. What are your thoughts? 💭
11.07 00:09
