What is wireless? History and daily rituals of a now crucial technology

The "Decoding Wireless" installation will be open at Piazzale LaFilanda in Mendrisio for the entire month of September. To deepen the subject, on Friday, 11 September at 6 pm, Prof. Gabriele Balbi will hold the conference "Understanding the wireless. History and omnipresence in everyday life" and will accompany the audience on a guided tour of the installation.

The installation proposes a historical itinerary of wireless technologies - the wireless, in fact - from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day, running a timeline marked by the events that have characterised the wireless in the world and Switzerland. The timeline is also " augmented". Specific audiovisual content plays on the visitor's smartphone when an image is selected by framing it with the device.

The "Decoding Wireless" project not only highlights the historical aspect of wireless but also wants to emphasise the importance of such technologies in everyday life and their material dimension. Often taken for granted, we notice the importance of wireless only when it stops working: for example if we are unable to connect to Wi-Fi or our phone "has no reception". Perceived as ethereal and immaterial, it is actually made of cables, omnipresent antennas and tubes that carry portions of signals and need maintenance. Likewise, it connects contemporary cultures, although its social role is mostly underestimated. Hence the importance and the need to better understand this crucial and pervasive technology that has imposed rituals and habits in our daily lives.

The #DecodingWireless project, the result of the collaboration between Prof. Gabriele Balbi of the Institute of Media and Journalism of USI and Dr Jean-Pierre Candeloro of the Visual Culture Laboratory of SUPSI, is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The installation, which has already made some stops in Lugano and Locarno, can be accessed free of charge until 2 October 2020.