From East to West, and back again: Utopianism in Italian Radical Design

This chapter focuses on Radical Design, the Italian avant-garde active from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s that called for architecture's liberation from its market and modernist constraints in favor of its use as a marxist-informed tool for societal transformation. While much mythologised today, the ideas and activities of the likes of Ettore Sottsass, Global Tools, Superstudio and Cavart remain insufficiently explored. These include the look West, to the beats, hippies and communes of the American counterculture, and the look East, to countries including Burma and India that seemed to embody an enlightened existence. This chapter focuses on the 'alternative‘ interests of the Radical avant-garde and how these informed their utopian use of design and architecture to create a more meaningful, liberated existence.