Introduction | Art and Politics | Images of the Heads of State | Images of the Individual and Society
Images of Work and Development | Images of War | A Difficult Heritage
Urban redevelopment projects of overwhelming proportions were initiated to generate enthusiasm for the political regime and demonstrate the capability of the government in power. Urban planning expressed the ideals of the political system in architecture, especially in the centres of power, the capital cities.
Construction projects such as the autobahns in Germany, the Dnieper Dam and hydroelectric power station in the Soviet Union or the dams of the Tennessee Valley Authority in the United States were about more than modernisation and creating jobs. They were celebrated in film, the press and the arts as symbols of social progress and technical and economic innovation.
Productivity increases in agriculture and the opening up of new land for cultivation – such as the draining of the Pontine Marshes in Fascist Italy – were also celebrated in the visual media and used for state propaganda.
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360° Panorama
