Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Ghalya Saadawi

Thesis: Gaps: Utopian transient zones

July 2025

Abstract

This thesis explores the potential for realising temporary utopias in the context of everyday life against the backdrop of a global crisis of collective imagination and systemic inertia. The analysis of utopian visions is divided into four interconnected chapters that trace their development from the literary normative utopia, as defined by Thomas More, to the search for utopian alternatives in temporary interventions within late capitalism. A key motif of the work is the connection between Bloch's cold and warm currents, which I apply to my own theoretical imagination and routinized practice embedded in a rigid, hard-to-reverse capitalist framework. For their synthesis, I employ the concept of gaps as a subtle yet potentially transformative space where utopian desire can emerge. The thesis concludes that even consciously acknowledged moments of imaginative disruption can serve as catalysts for long-term change. This study contributes to a broader discussion of how micro-utopian experiences can counter the demotivation of late capitalism and open up paths to alternative forms of social change.

Author: Tereza Darmovzalová