At this year’s Venice Bienniale in Italy, the Korean pavilion has a curious exhibit called “Commissions for Utopia”. It includes renderings from North Korea’s top architects and artists (all anonymous), many of whom studied at the Paekho Institute of Architecture, North Korea’s state-run architectural college, and none of whom have ever left the country. They were asked to create a vision of North Korea’s future sustainable architecture for its expanding tourism industry. Their final products are a glimpse into what it would be like to envision the future after being entirely cut off from the present for almost 70 years. (Photo by Nick Bonner/Kyle Vanhemert/Venice Architecture Biennale)

Hot air balloons fly over the sky in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, December 6, 2014. The two-day International Balloon festival 2014 featuring balloon pilots from Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Britain, and Czech Republic is held on December 06-07 2014 to celebrate Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 87th birthday and also aimed to promote the tourism industry in Chiang Mai northern city. (Photo by Pongmanat Tasiri/EPA)

Mexico City resident Romina Montoya takes a playful selfie wearing a protective face mask over her eyes and nose, in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, Wednesday, January 6, 2021. Concern is spreading that the critical winter holiday tourism success could be fleeting because it came as COVID-19 infections in both Mexico and the United States were reaching new heights. (Photo by Emilio Espejel/AP Photo)

A man pushes her daughter on a cart as they shop at a market in Seoul, South Korea, July 26, 2016. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

A woman worker prepares her stall at Tanah Abang textile market in Jakarta, Indonesia January 11, 2017. (Photo by Fatima El-Kareem/Reuters)

A worker carries a basket of fish, at a wholesale fish market, on the outskirts of Kolkata, March 15, 2017. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Kashmiri vegetable vendors assemble at a floating market in the interiors of the Dal Lake in Srinagar April 17, 2012. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

A vendor stands in a flooded flower market following heavy monsoon rains in Mumbai on September 23, 2020. (Photo by Sujit Jaiswal/AFP Photo)