German magazines in the house, life looked pretty good too. While lifestyle magazine photos seldom reflect reality -- both in the East and West -- the domestic dream remains the same. American magazines of the time would espouse a similar -- and largely imagined -- vision too, where citizens consumed in the name of capitalism. Both sides were trying to rebuild their identities after the war, and while each employed different ideologies, they seem to want to say the same thing: We are progressing. We are the future.

Competing Utopias is on view at the Neutra VDL House through September 13, 2014.

Reception Desk | Photo: David Hartwell

Surveillance Room Exterior View | Photo: David Hartwell

Child Room | Photo: Laure Joliet

Courtyard | Photo: Laure Joliet

Living Room Side Table | Photo: LaureXi Jinping is, undoubtedly, China’s most formidable leader in decades. Since becoming president in 2013, he’s consolidated power to a level his last two predecessors could only have imagined. Last year he declared himself the “core” of the ruling Communist Party, and he heads a dozen party agencies controlling everything from economic reforms to state security.

Xi is set to start his second five-year term with the party congress meeting this fall. In the past few months, China’s propaganda machines have been busy churning out videos crafting his personal image. The latest installments, receiving some of the heaviest promotion in years, arrived this week in a series of slick segments looking back at Xi’s three-decade career.

On March 19 state broadcaster CCTV aired the first of them, in a three-part