Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970

摘要

Writing in the catalogue that accompanied the exhibition 'Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970' (25 September 2008 to 11 January 2009) at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, David Crowley and Jane Pavitt propose, 'Design was not a marginal aspect of the Cold War but central -both materially and theoretically-to the competition over the future' (p. 14). Drawing design into the field of ideological conflict between East and West, editors Crowley and Pavitt and eleven contributors reat-tach design during the cold war to its historical and political origins. At the centre, design contributed to the aggressive staging of cold war modernity, beginning in 1945 and following the negotiations between the USA and the Soviet Union (and their proxies) that continued into the 1970s. Design was either created in support of the Utopian aspirations or destructive drives of one or other super power or it was a critical response to the alignment and hegemony of power. Both the editors and contributors to this exemplary resource expertly interrogate the dynamics of the social, the political, the cultural and the sexual, all as constructed and organized experiences with cold war modern design.