Cultural Cold War in the 1950s

The “Kalamazoo" Exhibition Designed by Will Burtin and USIA

Abstract

This paper focuses on the German artist Will Burtin (1908–1972), and examines his designs for the U.S. Government. In 1957, he created a visual composition of the Midwestern city Kalamazoo for the United States Information Agency (USIA). During the Sputnik Crisis, the Kalamazoo Exhibition travelled to England and West Berlin in 1958 to show Europeans the American way of life. Burtin proactively contributed to the U.S. national strategy and created design concepts that catered to its national interests. For the exhibition, he designed a three-dimensional installation with many photographs, based on the European modern design method. Through his work with the USIA, Burtin might have constructed his identity as an American. This study examines how the U.S. took advantage of the immigrant artist to construct an image of the U.S. by cooperation with him during the Cultural Cold War.