The eagle has landed… At the V&A!

The mystery behind the 7th Syndikate finally unravelled this
evening and I'm glad to say I had a really good time!

I almost ran to get to the Albert Memorial on time. I put on on
my hat and sunglasses as instructed while arriving there, along
with a newspaper under my left arm. I met with a few other
strange characters similarly dressed on the steps, and they were
generally as clueless to the purpose of this whole thing
as I was...


A few minutes past 6:45pm: the man with a tan mac and a
bowler hat, our mark to tail as agents of the
7th Syndikate, finally arrived. Needless to say we got
some funny looks from people on the streets, particularly
when having a drill sergeant experience in the underground
subway by the museums... Perhaps not as fun as when I got
to walk around Birmingham with my full on Indian wedding
suit (running errands for the bride who was a friend)
but still very cool.

Turned out we were going to the V&A and it was brilliant!

I like the V&A a lot and just walking through the doors
at night while the place is closed to the general public
was excellent!

The new exhibition this was all about is opening tomorrow:
Cold War Modern, A collection of designs created between
1945 and 1970.

We had a few drinks, a few explanations about the whole
ARG (alternate reality game)
and then got to see the exhibition before everyone else. ;o)

Here is some info about it:
The decades after the Second World War saw an intense
rivalry between the world’s two superpowers: the Soviet
Union and America. In the ‘cold war’ that ensued,
the two powers engaged in aggressive contests to build
their own spheres of influence. They accelerated the
development of new technologies to produce weapons,
launched ambitious space programmes and waged
propaganda campaigns across the world.

Vying to outdo one another, each deployed displays
of modern living, signs of progress and images of
future utopias. Art, architecture and design were drawn
into this Cold War competition to demonstrate a
superior vision of modernity.

I met some cool people while over there, though unfortunately
didn't get everyone's details - just leave a comment here or
on the Facebook group if you want to be in touch!

The campaign was created by 1000 Heads, they label
themselves the Word of Mouth People. I met Seb who was
in charge of the campaign and I learned they carefully
targeted 73 London bloggers with for this campaign.
Now I don't know about you, but in my book contacting
73 people and having 30 showing up is a damn good ratio!
Congratulations to all those involved in the campaign,
it was brilliant! (I kind of suspect Lolly may have
suggested I'd be a good candidate - thanks if that's
the case ;o)
A really cool exhibition, it made me think of the
Weapons of Mass Communication last year at the
Imperial War Museum, though this one was much better.
Some architectural designs, fashion of the times
(Manhattan in a glass bubble and Pierre Cardin's 
space dress were amazing, and there are lots more!)
Really good campaign and great exhibition,
I highly recommend seeing it!