On August 6, 1945, the United States detonated an atomic bomb on the populous city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing a quarter of a million people. Eighty years — almost to the day — since the devastation wreaked by that first nuclear weapon, Fallout: Atoms for War & Peace at Poster House chronicles the development and response to what it calls “two of the most significant inventions of the modern era,” and two sides of the same coin: the nuclear weapon and the nuclear power station. The exhibition design is dynamic: Walls cut in forceful diagonals funnel viewers into various sections. The bold sans serif of text headings and colorful graphic stencils that sometimes spew past walls onto floor and ceiling draw from the typography and design of the posters on view, extending the works’ distinct visual vernacular into an immersive, engaging experience. Occasionally, this ambitious strategy leads to overreaches that fall flat, such as texts and posters hidden behind unfortunately placed pillars, and interior walls set just the right distance from exterior ones to make routes ambiguous.Fallout is also effective in conveying information, particularly dense science and complicated international history. The use of bullet points in labels offers easily consumable morsels of facts, and none requires context from earlier texts for comprehension — a smart choice in a massive show with a ton of works and text. These texts repeatedly emphasize the stakes and repercussions of the nuclear arms race. For instance, one points out that the US gave India nuclear material as part of a program to provide know-how in exchange for non-proliferation. Instead, India secretly built a bomb, setting off an ongoing arms race with Pakistan. Another notes that Microsoft recently announced its reopening of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, the site of a dangerous meltdown in 1979, to power its cloud and artificial intelligence services, ending plans for cleanup and demolition planned through 2052. It emphasizes the ongoing lockstep between private corporations and warfare — indeed, the term “military-industrial complex” was coined by Eisenhower in his farewell address warning of the dangers of nuclear war. Left: Erik Nitsche, “General Dynamics/Aerodynamics” (1955); right: installation view of posters by Erik Nitsche for General DynamicsThe dozens of posters and other forms of mass media on view, including books and television programs, emphasize how deeply ingrained the visual vernacular of nuclear development and disarmament is in popular culture: It gave us the mushroom cloud, the “atomic whirl” symbol, and a gritty Cold War aesthetic popularized in films and video games like Fallout. It even produced the peace symbol. A large section is dedicated to designer Eric Nitsche, whose work for the corporation General Dynamics is an early example of sleek corporate aesthetics. The influence of the minimalism and modularity of the Swiss International Style can be seen in a 1955 poster in which red and yellow bars transect a splayed-out world map projection, emphasizing how easily aircrafts can splice through it. The influence of contemporary art, particularly abstraction, can also be seen. A 1957 poster, for example, captures the exploration of sub-atomic particles via a Pollock-esque spray of pigment emanating from intersecting lines, invoking the cutting edge of both science and art. (Indeed, Nitsche was a family friend of Paul Klee.)Posters for disarmament also draw upon a distinct iconography, including skeletons, globes, mushroom clouds, clocks, and symbols of innocents. A particularly striking example is Hans Erni’s 1954 “Let’s Stop This,” in which a mushroom cloud gushes up out of a skull imprinted with a world map — largely recognized as the first poster to condemn the nuclear arms race, it was banned from that year’s Geneva Conference. Artist Ben Shahn, whose work is concurrently on view in a retrospective at the Jewish Museum, contributes a poster in which collaged elements combine with bright red letters to spell out the title “Stop H Bomb Tests” (1960). And a famous image for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament by Peter Kennard — also credited as a designer for the exhibition — intersperses a battery of missiles upon the bucolic stream in Peter Constable’s 1821 painting “The Hay Wain.” Peter Kennard, “No Nuclear Weapons” (1980)A large portion of Fallout is dedicated to the propaganda produced by nations allied with the United States and those with the USSR, providing some of the show’s highlights. These include a pendant depicting the Virgin Mary standing on a mushroom cloud below the word “Pax,” or peace, while the patron saint of the armed forces slays Satan on the backside. This object was likely commissioned by the US government, for Pope Pius XII had stated that the nuclear bomb was “the most terrible weapon that the human mind has ever conceived.” And a promotional video the US government commissioned from Disney (it also paid for an exhibition at Disneyland) demonstrates attempts to permeate popular culture. On the opposite side are works such as Lev Haas’s “We Will Stand Against Those Who Organize Atomic War” (1955); in it, a grim reaper emblazoned with “NATO” and a swastika towers over a mushroom cloud while a Soviet scientist stands over an apple tree blooming above a utopic community. One main takeaway of the show is that popular protest can be incredibly effective in stalling or reversing governmental brinkmanship. The public’s resistance to the development of the neutron bomb led European governments to backpedal. Similar protests in the US influenced the Carter administration to cancel its plans to use them — fuel for a populace agitating today for peace on multiple fronts, such as protests of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. The fact that each of us is alive to continue the fight is a testament to the effectiveness of such advocacy. Left: Hans Erni, “Let’s Stop This” (1954); right: Fujio Mizutani, “Hiroshima” (1983), using a photo taken by Jin Yoshida (undated)Ben Shahn, “Stop H Bomb Tests” (1960)Lev Haas, “We Will Stand Against Those Who Organize Atomic War” (1955)Installation view of Fallout: Atoms for War & PeaceFallout: Atoms for War & Peace continues at Poster House (119 West 23 Street, Chelsea, Manhattan) through September 7. The exhibition was curated by Angelina Lippert and Tim Medland and designed by Kudos & KASA Collective.