Cold War Culture

Supported by the University of Brighton and the Council of Europe, this major international conference brings together some of the most exciting thinkers on art, design and architecture in the post-1945period to reflect on the ways in which Cold War politics shaped the modern world. Organised in conjunction with the V&A’s landmark exhibition, Cold War Modern: Design 1945-70, the conference offer new perspectives on a period which continues to grip the imagination today. The special guest speaker is politician Tony Benn.

Friday 21 November
• Introduction – Jane Pavitt (University of
Brighton/V&A)
• Hypocrite Borrowings: Soviet Americanisms
1945–70 – Jean-Louis Cohen (New York University,
• Planning and Utopia: Functionalism and Social
Realism as Design Strategies – Simone Hain
(Graz University of Technology)
• New Towns on the Cold War Frontier – Michelle
Provoost (Dutch architectural historian and curator)
• Double Agents: Modern Design in the Cold War –
David Crowley (Royal College of Art)
• The Vision Politic: Experimental Films in the
Cold War – Eric Schuldenfrei (New York-based
designer and filmmaker)
• A Taste for the West – Branislav Dimitrijevic
(Centre of Contemporary Art, Belgrade)

Saturday 22 November
• Radical Seats – Frédéric Migayrou
(Centre Pompidou)
• Utopianism in Visionary Art in Czechoslovakia
in the 1960s – Vit Havránek (Prague-based curator)
• Political Uses of Technology During the Cold
War – Tony Benn (former Minister of Technology
in Britain and peace-activist)
• Revival of Utopianism and Constructivism in
the Soviet Union in the 1960s – Yuri Avvakumov
(Moscow-based curator and artist)
• Cold War Imaginary Futures – Richard Barbrook
(University of Westminster)
• Space Race – Felicity Scott
(University of Columbia)

£110 for 2 days, £55 for 1 day, concessions available
Supported by the University of Brighton and the Council of Europe
Victoria and Albert Museum
South Kensington
www.vam.ac.uk/tickets
020 7942 2211