Cold War Modern: Design 1945 - 1970, at the V&A (25 September 2008 - 11 January 2009), was the first exhibition to explore how contemporary design, architecture, film and popular culture were shaped by the Cold War, an era of high tension and exceptional creativity.

The decades after the Second World War saw an intense rivalry between the world's two superpowers: the Soviet Union and America.

In the 'cold war' that ensued, the two powers engaged in aggressive contests to build their own spheres of influence. They accelerated the development of new technologies to produce weapons, launched ambitious space programmes and waged propaganda campaigns across the world.

Modern life after 1945 seemed to promise both utopia and catastrophe. By 1949, both of the world's superpowers had acquired the capacity to annihilate one another with nuclear weapons.
Twenty years later, man had walked on the moon.