Activities

Wireless walks

The “Decoding Wireless” installations came to life come to life on July 4 and 24, 2019, in Lugano, and August 8, 2019, in Locarno, thanks to an “archeological” and “ethnographic” walk on the trail of wireless communication. This walk was archeological because a restricted group of contemporary Indiana Joneses followed a trail of wireless technologies, identifying invisible and hidden wireless infrastructures and discussing the extent to which wireless has now become a central element of cities. The walk was also ethnographic because participants looked around, watch how passers-by behave, and reflect on how wireless is changing all of our lives. During the walks, the group was also be able to visit the installations with the researchers and experts who have worked on this project.

Installations

The (in)visible history of wireless communication

This history includes Guglielmo Marconi’s experiments, Titanic’s SOS message (picked up by few vessels), the birth of radio and television, Sputnik’s launch into orbit by the Soviet Union, the live moon landing, mobile phones (not so portable to start with…), GSM, Wi-Fi, and 5G. Also important were the first radio broadcasts and first amateur radio operators in Switzerland, the birth of SSR and RSI, the Eurovision Song Contest in Lugano, “NATEL”, Wi-Fi in Lugano, and the Swiss and Swiss-Italian satellites. The story of wireless communication consists of plenty of events and turning points that are more or less well known. By running along the wireless timeline, we will be able to enjoy a historical route among some of the events that have marked the history of wireless around the world and in Switzerland. While this history is certainly global, it also shows some local and national peculiarities. If you want to have more information on specific events, you can explore them further. The timeline is indeed “augmented,” and when you focus on some expandable areas with your smartphone, you will discover contents that are invisible to the naked eye!
Behind the panels, tubes pop out. It is our building site and is intended to highlight the material dimension of wireless, the need to service aerials or stretches of tubes through which fiber optics travel, carrying sections of wireless signals. It is intended to serve as a reminder of the square kilometers taken up by server farms with scores of servers humming and consuming energy, but which store our personal data in the cloud. It makes us think again of all the devices produced and sold because of wireless, devices that often age rapidly, which require frequent replacements, and add to the amount of digital waste that is also caused by wireless. In conclusion, there can be no wireless without its material side!

How to see augmented contents?

1. Install the Artivive app

2. Look for artworks 3. marked with the Artivive icon
3. Hold your smartphone in the front of the artwork

Timeline: global and local milestones

Scroll through the dates and discover the history of wireless.

With Internet Explorer the timeline isn’t visible, please use another browser.

  1. The first wireless transmission by Guglielmo Marconi

    The first wireless transmission by Guglielmo Marconi

    Guglielmo Marconi. Source: The Guglielmo Marconi Foundation and Museum, Pontecchio Marconi.

    In 1895, Guglielmo Marconi managed to send a telegraph message, without the use of wires, from the window of his home in Pontecchio (Bologna, Italy), which was later renamed Pontecchio Marconi. This experiment marked the beginning of a new era of communication: nation states, entrepreneurs, and inventors challenged each other to take control of wireless, while a considerable number of amateur radio operators exchanged messages in Morse code, a binary code made up of sequences of dots and dashes. 

    AR: Villa Griffone, where Marconi lived and made his first experiments with wireless.

  2. The sinking of the Titanic and its unheeded SOS messages

    The sinking of the Titanic and its unheeded SOS messages

    A reconstruction of the SOS distress signal sent by the Titanic to surrounding vessels, 1912. Source: Story in picture of how wireless waked the midnight sea, 17 aprile 1912. The day book, p. 6.

    The transatlantic liner Titanic struck an iceberg between April 14 and 15, 1912, and slowly sank. This story, which has become so familiar, partly thanks to a 1997 Oscar-winning film by James Ca