The Cold War era was about more than just military antagonism. Strong social and political tensions against a backdrop of post-war optimism set the scene for a period of intense creative and technological output globally.
Click here to see more from Cold War Modern: Design
A new large-scale exhibition at the V&A in London will examine contemporary design, architecture, film and popular culture during the years 1945 to 1970 from across borders, including the USA, the Soviet Union, France, Germany, and the UK.
Over 300 exhibits neatly cross-section the period's unique milieu, that mid-century conflation of strident modernism, fervent commercialism, art, revolution and political anxiety.
Everything from Sputnik and an Apollo Mission space suit to Kubrick's satirical Dr Strangelove, paintings by Rauschenberg, Richter, and Picasso, 'futuristic' fashion by Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne, classic Eames furniture, Dieter Rams' designs for Braun, NASA space craft interiors by Raymond Loewy, and architectural blueprints for imagined utopias by Hans Hollein, Archigram and Superstudio are on show – remnants of an unlikely socio-cultural boom still being felt today.
ADDRESS
V&A South Kensington
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2RL
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards: this Finnish island sauna is Life-Enhancer of the Year 2026Puusauna harnesses the power of trees, using whole trunks in its exquisite architecture by Jaakko Torvinen, which earns it a Wallpaper* Design Award
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards: Detroit is City of the Year 2026Once a byword for urban distress, the Motor City is undergoing a fresh wave of regeneration, driven by progressive developers, design distinctions and dynamic investment
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards: Willo Perron is Designer of the Year 2026The mastermind behind some of the world’s most spectacular cultural moments, Willo Perron has been capturing the creative zeitgeist for 20 years. We interview the designer, honoured in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026
