Hungarian pavilion at Expo 58, Brussels

Two years after Hungary’s anti-Stalinist revolutionary uprising and its brutal suppression by the Soviet army, the country’s presence at Expo 58 was an important opportunity for legitimizing the rule of János Kádár. Despite its economic problems and political instability, Hungary participated as one of four communist-led European countries at the Brussels Expo, alongside the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia (which had broken with the Soviet bloc in 1948).
It was the poet, writer, and sociologist Iván Boldizsár who came up with the pavilion’s theme: What does a small nation give to the big world? The aim was to showcase the global reach and impact of Hungary’s products, labour, spirit, production, art, literature, and music. Instead of glorifying socialism with portraits of heads of state, a few carefully selected exhibits, photographs, and works of art were displayed to demonstrate Hungary’s place in the modern world.
This minimalist approach was reflected in the pavilion’s architectural design by Lajos Gádoros (1910–91), a representative of the Kádár era’s neo-functionalism. The structure was light and transparent, similar to many other pavilions at the fair. The pavilion featured a raised roof structure supported by glass walls, which not only admitted abundant natural light during the day but also served to demonstrate openness. It was conceived as a total work of art, with a coherent flow of themes and ideas: all the different sections worked in harmony with one another, also in the use of colours and materials. The pavilion’s objective was to overcome the divide between political systems by focussing on the commonalities and shared human experiences of the modern world.