Wireless Communications: Technology, Culture and Myth-Making

We have assembled an international group of Canadian and Italian scholars who are interested in the role that the wireless imaginary has played in shaping our everyday practices. It is these practices that constitute the substance of this constellation. Working within this metaphoric trajectory, we term this shift the 'Marconi Galaxy', an appellation coined by McLuhan. Our international research efforts will investigate these shifts into the electric age, which are still being realized. The project offers the perfect occasion to reassess and revisit Marconi’s inventions at the dawn of a new wireless era of the internet and mobile computing devices. It offers an opportunity to investigate the role that these technologies have played in establishing innovative and groundbreaking cultural, sociological and political alignments. In the past hundred years, we have moved from the presence of analogue-based stationary transmitters and receivers to the use of digital mobile devices, from a broadcasting model predicated on the movement of information to new modes of communication that are many to many and highly interactive. These reverberations were set into motion with Marconi's single 'click' created by an electromagnetic impulse. It is precisely these reverberations, impulses and interactions that our research team intends to investigate, interrogate and harness creatively for exhibitions and academic purposes. Technological breakthroughs are generally presented in the mythic language of “revolutions” without emphasizing the complex evolutionary processes that have made such developments possible. It is for these reasons that the collaboration between Canadian and Italian academic scholars, designers and curators will trigger a set of unique understandings of these societal phenomena and facilitate their popularisation. The following areas of inquiry will guide our research: A) Investigation, articulation and assessment of the 'Marconi Galaxy': In the early 1960s, McLuhan’s notion of the 'Marconi Galaxy' attempted to convey the scientific, technological, cultural and anthropological characteristics of the electrical age. It was asserted that electricity, a paradigmatic instance of "a medium without a message", could lead to unforeseen technological applications. These forms of communications might trigger new behavioural patterns and societal matrixes. Our investigation is interested exploring whether and how this notion is still relevant today. Furthermore, it is our challenge to find novel means to convey the complexity of these articulations utilizing these new means of communication for the broader public. B) Radio and national identity: A comparative analysis between Canada and Italy will allow scholars to investigate the role that wireless communication and broadcasting technologies have played in the two countries and bring a necessary historical dimension to this project. C) Design and development of integrated programmes and events for museums, universities, governmental and educational agencies. We imagine public workshops that could be developed to include the history of technologies; the history of technical objects; electrification and modernity; from radio to radar to wireless; and the fascinating stories of fake or failed innovations in this period. Areas of studies: Applied Technologies; Communication & Media Studies; Cultural Studies; Design & Architecture; Literature; Engineering; Visual Arts