Bickels Socialism

The Casa do Povo cultural centre in São Paulo an icon of the secular Jewish workers movement a crumbling theatre flanked by staircases entryways and corridors Construction noise drones away in the background clinking crockery a broom sweeping over tiled floors an expressive façade of countless adjustable panes of glass covered by a patina Its October 2016 and a group of young people are preparing a preview of Bickels Socialism The venue is to form a prologue to the completed film which tours 22 buildings in Israel designed by Samuel Bickels most of which for kibbutzim Dining halls childrens houses agricultural buildings bright structures inserted into the Mediterranean landscape with great ingenuity An architecture with a sellby date That many are now empty or have been repurposed at best is linked to the decline of the socialist ideals they embody