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.
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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
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Jaç Hi-Fi Café brings Japanese listening-bar culture to BarcelonaIsern Serra Studio unveils a sound-sculpted interior that brings Japanese listening traditions into Catalonia’s contemporary design landscape
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Modernist and contemporary Brazilian furniture face off in this LA exhibition‘Lightness & Tension’ (5-19 September 2025) features the work of Joaquim Tenreiro and Lucas Simões, as curator and dealer Ulysses de Santi explores the trajectory Brazilian furniture design
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A refreshed Victorian home in London is soft, elegant and primed for hostingSobremesa house by architects Studio McW shows off its renovation and extension, designed for entertaining
