Ferehawk's monochromatic vision was very wrong. As Patrick Mansfield of the Wende explained, the curatorial team selected items that blended stealthily with the house, those that were slightly different, and then some that were blatantly not from the West. For example, the jarringly official atmosphere of the foyer, where a government portrait overlooks chairs facing a podium.

Reception Seating | Photo: David Hartwell

The most baffling items, though, were those that seemed completely Western, revealing that contrary to our perception, the Soviet East was in-sync with global styles. Or had they started them? The sleek, geometric chairs, colorful packaging, bright kitchen appliances and jazz records make you wonder.

Questions of origin arise in every room of the house. Take the rough-hewn ceramic vessels in the living room; they look like pure1970s California, but they're East German. Then the dots start connecting: Southern California ceramic style was greatly influenced by Gertrud and Otto Natzler, who emigrated from Austria during World War II. Of course, Los Angeles's two giants of early architectural modernism, Rudolph Schindler and Neutra, emigrated from Austria as well, importing the legacy of modern European design. Curator Donna Stein of the Wende points out that the influences of the Bauhaus school remained in (both sides of) Germany too, long after its founder Walter Gropius, and many of its members, fled to the West.

The cultural cross-pollination abounds, with surprising results; the East brightens and American exceptionalism goes a bit limp. Plastics may be associated with American postwar prosperity and suburban Tupperware parties, but East Germany had the muscle