Paper short abstract:

The recreated reality in the postcards (”the City in the Future”) with the staging characteristic of it is a reflection of the visual perceptions and social utopian adjustments in the early 20th century

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of this text is to present postcards from the early 20th century, showing the town's development in the future: imaginary, utopian and the result of subjective artistic views. Bulgarian, German and Swiss images/views have been selected, which are on the borderline between the documentary and the artistic improvisation. This raises the question concerning "the truthfulness of the photographic image", which presents/offers a desired, idealized and fancied view of the urban environment. Flight from reality and changing of the reality depicted in the postcard aim to achieve a certain impact on society.

The swift reflection of the changing (even unfamiliar and fancied) reality in the realm of postcards is a fact. The presence of transport vehicles and imaginary flying machines in the city and in the mountain is hyperbolized and uniform. The artistic reality shown holds good for every modern town no matter in which part of the world it is located. The urban environment in the future is pictured in a uniform and unified way. Futuristic technical amenities are part of the idealized image of the town and stress the overbuilt and overpopulated spaces which, unlike today, had been liked in the past. Every motif/pattern has a specific message and calls for interpretation within broad art theory and anthropological boundaries.

The staged (fantastic) reality in the realm of the Bulgarian postcard is a visual means and strategy of cultural identity, which may have different interpretations within different context and depending on the point of view (province - capital, Bulgaria - Europe, etc.).