Born in Bologna, Italy, on April 25, 1874, physicist Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless telegraph一what we know today as radio一and was awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside German physicist Ferdinand Braun. From emerging as the first electronic mass culture medium through news, advertising, music and acting to becoming less relevant due to the introduction of television, the design, technology and significance of radio has undergone several changes in the past century. Marking Marconi’s 150^th birth anniversary and the centenary of the first public radio broadcast, the ADI Design Museum in Milan presented Radio Design: The Aesthetic Evolution of Radio Devices from September 05-27, 2024. The exhibition, part of the Marconi Year celebrations by the Italian Ministry of Culture has moved to the Cirulli Foundation in Bologna, where it's on until October 31, 2024.

Founded in 2015 by Massimo and Sonia Cirulli, the Cirulli Foundation has a vision to present and promote Italy’s 20th century art and design legacy and visual art culture to the world. The 1960-built historic building on the outskirts of Bologna by Italian architects and designers Pier and Achille Castiglioni is home to the Cirulli Foundation and the venue for all their exhibitions. The building embodies the spirit of the 20^th century, both in its architecture and history, as several renowned Italian artists and designers such as Carlo Scarpa, Man Ray, Marcel Breuer and Marcel Duchamp have transformed the interior spaces of the building into their creative laboratories in the past.

The design exhibition takes visitors on a journey to explore radio technology and its aesthetic manifestations over the course of history, reflective of popular trends of its respective eras. “An exhibition requires both choices and exclusions and has to favour, out of necessity, some authors over others,” reads a statement placed on a pedestal within the exhibition space that reflects the curatorial approach. Covering eight major themes that guided the evolution of radios in the 20^th century; the showcase highlights the design journey from minimal designs by the Germany-based company Bruan to Italy-based company Ducati’s unique, seemingly heavy wooden radios, the first valve radios to modern smart devices. It also features contributions from designers such as Le Corbusier, French-born American designer Raymond Loewy, American artist Keith Haring, Danish architect and designer Verner Panton and French architect and industrial designer Philippe Starck, along with 50 models from the Italian designer and the exhibition curator Davide Vercelli’s private collection.

One of the biggest displays in the exhibition is by Italian company Brionvega, whose expansive radio design portfolio and quality craftsmanship won it the 1970 ADI Compasso d’Oro Career Award, which is a prestigious Italian industrial design award bestowed by the ADI Design Museum. Brionvega’s journey began with industrial and product designer Rodolfo Bonetto’s horizontal radio RR121, leading to collaborations with renowned designers such as the Castiglioni brothers, Bellini and the designer duo Zanuso and Sapper that redefined Italian design and industrial design in the 1960s. The exhibition displays the RR126 model along with its original RR121 prototype, as well as the vertical radio RR127, the smaller, cubical model Radiocubo TS 502 and the striking white RR231 Totem Stereo model with three different elements.

Perhaps one of the most notable changes in the aesthetics of radio was brought about due to the rising popularity of futuristic designs inspired by films like 2001:A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick and the Star Trek TV series, which marked a notable shift in radio aesthetics. These designs translated into spherical forms made from polished metals or black and white plastics. The influence of the space age aesthetics can be seen in several radiophonic devices from the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Vision 2000 radio by designer Thilo Oerke for the company Rosita, which was built with an openable see-through dome and the Japan-made Weltron 2500 that displayed chromatic effects by utilising the phenomena of optical interference.

Beyond the aesthetics of the product designs, the exhibition also highlights how technological innovations like the invention of transistors, led to the phenomena of subsequent miniaturisation of the products and the everchanging materiality of radios from plastics to modern technopolymers. The developments in the design and technology of radios have influenced and have been influenced by society’s political and socio-cultural landscape over the decades. A caption beneath the exhibits explains, “In the 1930s, the Italian and German totalitarian regimes found themselves needing to implement a capillary propaganda campaign with the aim of creating a national identity and generating consensus between the youth and the rural population”.

Radio Design: The Aesthetic Evolution of Radio Devices explores a century of art and technology of wireless telegraphs, especially Italian art and design, by showcasing the best of industrial design and craftsmanship. Analysing socioeconomic factors, innovative designs and personal stories, the exhibition explores the multifaceted role of radio from the 1930s to the present day. From being a symbol of modernity, a propaganda tool and an entertainment device to becoming modern-day multifunctional systems and valuable collector’s items, the radio’s many lives are on display at the Cirulli Foundation exhibition space.