HST 319 Cultures of Imperial Power’s Space Odyssey

16/10/2008

HST 319 Cultures of Imperial Power’s Space Odyssey

This week the class visited the V&A to see the new exhibit Cold War Modern Design 1945-1970. The exhibit examined the way by which the USA and the USSR used art, architecture, fashion and film to demonstrate to the other how their society had achieved utopian perfection: “Artists and designers played a central role in the Cold War battle of images”. The exhibit was especially significant for the class as it demonstrated the important role that culture and science can play in the imperial process, including the space race. While much of the artistic work was propaganda, it also had a spin-off into popular culture in general, one which went beyond Russia and America to impact on nations as diverse as Japan, the UK, Italy, Chile, China, and E Europe. Nor was it just the geographical range of peoples involved which was impressive. Chairs, stereos, tvs, typewriters, beds, scooters (the iconic Vespa) and Pierre Cardin fashions, were all affected by this Cold conflict and deliberately or inadvertently caught up in the superpower struggle. The geographical range of material culture impacted just goes to underline the significance of empire(s) overall.

Link to this page: http://www.richmond.ac.uk/n/601.aspx