David Bowie in the U.S.S.R.

In 2013 London's Victoria & Albert Museum opened an exhibition on rocker David Bowie that traveled to 10 cities, becoming the V&A's most attended show ever (and renewing debate about celebrity-driven blockbusters). Culver City's Wende Museum of the Cold War is now planning another, smaller Bowie exhibition for summer 2023, and it actually sounds smart as well as fun. It's built around Bowie's 1973 trip to the Soviet Union. This became a media sensation as Bowie reported on this travels for a teen magazine (Mirabelle) and the Soviet establishment spun the gender-fluid rock star as the apex of Western decadence. There's a lot to unpack here: LGBT visibility, capitalism, Marxism, androgyny, rock and roll, and "Tom and Jerry" cartoons (which the Soviets also considered "sick").

"David Bowie in the Soviet Union," co-curated by Olya Sova, is scheduled for Apr. 2, 2023 to Oct. 22, 2023.