An exhibition by SuperMonster市City!
and The Museum of Russian Art
This exhibition features toys, games, posters, comic books, and other cultural artifacts on loan from SuperMonster市City! (SMC), developed in collaboration with TMORA using objects from its permanent and research collections. More than two hundred objects on display date to the Cold War era (1950s–1980s) and were produced on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the political divide between the capitalist West and the communist East.
This rich and diverse show unfolds the era when the drama and intrigue of real-world espionage and fascination with outer space began to seep into Western popular culture. On display are unique vintage pieces featuring James Bond and characters from Lost in Space, Star Wars, and Star Trek.
Less obsessed with spies, the Soviet counterpart of American popular culture used the tactic of Inspire and Scare. Soviet space achievements were glorified across magazines, newspapers, greeting cards, postage stamps, and even holiday tree ornaments, while propaganda posters created a scary image of the capitalist West—featuring the war-mongering and greedy Western capitalist and their leader Uncle Sam, a lampoon with a sinister twist, wearing a familiar goatee and top hat.
SuperMonster市City! (SMC) is a Minneapolis-based travelling exhibition company co-founded by collector David Barnhill and Curator Stephen Rueff. For this exhibition, SMC draws upon David Barnhill’s extensive collection of spy and space pop culture items from the Cold War Era. Curator Stephen Rueff has spent years researching pop culture on both sides of the Iron Curtain, resulting in informative texts, historical profiles, as well as collecting many of the pop culture items on display that reflect the social and political perspectives of that time. SuperMonster市City! also developed the exhibit design with TMORA and secured the items loaned by Ripley Entertainment Inc.
Spies and Space: Cold War Artifacts from Both Sides of the Iron Curtain will be on view in the Main Gallery February 7 – May 10, 2026.
All objects on loan from SuperMonster市City!
(Left to right, top to bottom)
Space Family Robinson, Lost in Space comic book, 1965
Star Wars Destroyer, 1979
Lost in Space B-9 Robot, ca. 1965
Man from U.N.C.L.E., trading cards and box, 1965
Passage to Moauv, Star Trek book
Man from U.N.C.L.E. Illya Kuryakin button, 1965
Laika, First Space Dog, enlarged cigarette box, ca. 1960
Mr. Atomic, figure, 1962
The Green Lantern Corps #209, DC comic book, 1987
(Left to right, top to bottom):
25th Anniversary of Yury Gagarin’s Spaceflight, 1961
Artist: V. Fekliaev
Triptych of posters
Gift of Trudy Dahl
TMORA Collection
Cosmonaut Space Glove
Courtesy of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! World Entertainment
Space Dogs, Belka and Strelka, 1963
Gift tin
Gift of Kim L. and James J. Balaschak
TMORA Collection
Soviet KGB Spy Belt with Hidden Camera Buckle
Courtesy of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! World Entertainment
Launching of the Venera (Venus 1) Space Probe, 1961
Design: I. Levin
Postage stamp
Scott No. A1250 (Scott 2022 Standard Catalogue)
TMORA Collection
Space-Themed Ornament, 1950s–1960s
Hand-painted glass
Gift of Kim L. and James J. Balaschak
TMORA Collection
Sputniks over the Kremlin, 1959
Design: R. Zhitkov, E. Gundobin, I. Levin
Postage stamp
Scott No. A1129 (Scott 2022 Standard Catalogue)
TMORA Collection
