Cold War Modern Exhibition London 2008

Review of this fascinating display at the V&A Museum

Oct 13, 2008

Cold War Modern is a fast-track survey of how the post-war period influenced the arts and the design of posters, clothing and everyday objects.

The rapid technological progress that had been started in the Second World War was projected Western society along two very different paths after the war. The US and Western Europe chose the capitalist free-market approach, while Soviet Russia followed a planned economy model. Art and design expressed some of the ideologies of both sides.

This exhibition is a reminder that in the 1950s these were two approaches which seemed to have much better balanced strengths and weaknesses than we allow for in hindsight after the fall of the Soviet Union. A piquant sense of irony, which was not intended by the curators, was that the exhibition opened against the wider backdrop of the credit crunch of 2008 and bank “nationalisations” in the UK

There is an odd, almost monochrome starkness to the design of the era, from the spherical construction of the first satellite, Sputnik 1 to the almost military look of such everyday objects as table radios and furniture. A replica of Sputnik 1 hangs at the start of the exhibitions. Throughout the journey through the exhibits viewers see the intertwining of the astonishing progress of science and technology with the stalemate of the ideological battle between capitalism and American democracy opposing Soviet Communism.

The October 4 1957 launch of Sputnik began the Space Age and wrong-footed American belief in its own technological superiority, which was only really redeemed with the Moon landing in July 1969. However, it also intensified the Cold War, since it confirmed that Russia could launch a successful nuclear attack on the United States. The starkness of the first part of the exhibit is very well done, featuring scenes from the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, American subterranean nuclear bunkers for wealth residents and video screens playing extracts from Dr Strangelove.

As visitors move to the second part, the austere design of everyday objects, with few curves and leaving a technical/military impression is brought out. Some of the designs are of their day, but some are quite timeless. The Brionvega TV from 1966 – a portable TV set in the form of a black cube would not clash too much next to an Iphone, whereas the equally stark and grey Braun T1000 world radio looks like a 1950s design, though its stark elegance has a different charm.

Consumerism and the products of technology begin to lose some hold as the 1960s bring the hint of revolution to the arts, and curves and colours begin to invade the rectilinear design ethic of the preceding decade. Finally, at the end of cold War Modern, the Apollo moon missions, products of the Cold War race for technological supremacy bring an unexpected and far-reaching side effect. The photographs of planet Earth introduce a realisation of “fragile Earth” to the public consciousness.

This exhibition is well worth a visit, and the style of many of the exhibits from the Soviet influenced side may not be familiar to visitors. It is a thought-provoking look and how the political background influenced art and design for a generation that grew up in the shadow of nuclear “mutually assured destruction”.

Visiting Cold War Modern

(After the V&A, Cold War Modern: Design 1945-70 will tour to MART, Rovereto, Italy from 28 March to 26 July 2009 and to the National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, Lithuania from October to December 2009)

Further Information

The copyright of the article Cold War Modern Exhibition London 2008 in Special Art Gallery Exhibits is owned by Richard Mudhar. Permission to republish Cold War Modern Exhibition London 2008 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.