V&A brings art in from the cold

A Sputnik satellite that survived because it was never launched is the dramatic introduction to a new exhibition on design in the Cold War era.

The Victoria and Albert Museum show demonstrates how fierce East-West rivalry helped inspire and fuel Modernist design after the Second World War.

Designers adopted technologies which had been created as a result of the military struggle between communism and capitalism, and by the space race.

Fibreglass, which started life as protection for fighter planes, was utilised by Charles and Ray Eames for their classic chairs.

Architecture was influenced by the need for tall tele-towers, like the Post Office tower and the Ostankino tower in Moscow. The anxiety and tension of East-West rivalry were captured in films such as Dr Strangelove and Goldfinger.

One of the highlights of the show is Oasis No7, an inflatable bubble containing a small beach complete with palm trees and hammock designed by Viennese architects Haus-Rucker-Co in 1972 as a theoretical environment into which people could escape from modern life. Curator Jane Pavitt said: "We tell a story of post-war Modernism viewed through the lens of the Cold War."

The modernist movement flourished until the Seventies when the oil crisis of 1973 put an end to a plastic future and recession spoiled the utopian thinking that was a feature of Modernism.

The exhibition brings together Eastern-bloc design not seen before in the West to counteract the traditional Western bias of design histories.

"We were determined that this would be a show that reflected the design and art of the eastern side of the Iron Curtain," said Ms Pavitt.