Space Race Archaeologies: Photographs, Biographies and Design

As the byproduct of the Cold War, the space race produced a considerable number of objects disseminated in networks, not only in the East and West but also in the global South – rockets, launching pads, satellite tracking stations, astronomical observatories, and several other pieces of design, machineries and infrastructures. As they stand today, these objects are remnants of a modernity tied to secrecy, war deterrence, and mass media associated to outer-space politics. By bringing together the work of photographer Petr Antonov, architect Philipp Meuser, designer Hugo Palmarola, and historian of science Asif Siddiqi, this book comes from a conference held at the Princeton University School of Architecture in March 2016 on technology and the Cold War, contesting the historiographical status of these objects in order to give value to the manner in which they came to construct current modes of subjectivity and social relations.