Utopia

Utopia is an unreal place, a "desired" reality that does not exist—an imaginary place and society. In contrast, a heterotopia is a real place that has more meanings or purposes than immediately meet the eye. Both Utopia and Heterotopia are placed outside the society which created them, though they still maintain a connection with all the places inside that society. A heterotopia is a physical representation or approximation of a utopia, or I would argue, of a dystopia (considering the example of prisons). According to Foucault, a reflection in a mirror is a utopia, a "placeless place," while the mirror itself is a heterotopia as it is real and has relationships with reality and the environment. As the utopian concept is controversial in itself—since there could be many different utopias depending on the opinions and views of different groups—I think heterotopias are more powerful as they can create a place close to Utopia for different groups. For example, a church, but this would be closer to utopia only for Christians. One of the places I would call heterotopic was an exhibition in Kunsthaus by Kader Attia called "Remembering the Future". In it, he addresses the much-debated topical issue of the ‘restitution’ of non-Western, especially African artifacts. It includes the voices of historians, philosophers, activists, psychoanalysts, and economists. In the end, there is a feeling of fully immersing into his culture and following decades of its transformation, while physically being in Zurich. I believe for him there is also a sacred meaning in all the artifacts he presented, and, as a viewer, I was able to feel the same reverence. What is interesting is the feeling of falling out of another reality while exiting the exhibition.