Atomic age and space age: The 50s and 60s of the 20th century have it all. Visions for the future were developed here! World exhibitions were adorned with futuristic architecture; in Brussels, the "Atomium", built in 1958, unmistakably propagated the belief in a new, almost inexhaustible source of energy.

At the latest since the launch of the "Sputnik" in 1957, space fever has been omnipresent worldwide. In the 1960s, "The Jetsons", anticipating today's smart home, and "Raumpatrouille Orion" flicker across domestic television sets, and in the cinema the science fiction films "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Barbarella" become blockbusters. At the same time, a political public begins to campaign against nuclear armament and the youth and student movement wants to change society and tries out new forms of living together.

Today, one can smile or marvel at the effects that the enthusiasm for the future produced at that time. Atomic and space toys conquered children's rooms, decorations inspired by atomic models adorned vases and wallpaper. Sputnik lamps" hung in homes and precursors of today's "seating landscapes" responded to changing life needs. Designers such as Harry Bertoia, Eero Saarinen, Verner Panton or Joe Colombo created furniture and living environments for the future, Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin the matching fashion. New shapes, colours and materials became the hallmark of these two eventful decades.

The exhibition is dedicated to these unmistakable icons of the atomic and space age. It shows a very special creative epoch of international design that comes to its (quite understandable) end in the early 1970s with the oil crisis, the beginning of a changing ecological consciousness and the anti-nuclear power movement.

In the basement of the museum the museum café "HERZBLUT & ZINKE", offers warm dishes made from fresh, local produce as well as coffee and cake.

Partner of the DARMSTADT CARD:

reduced admission