The following three platforms are dedicated to listening as a design task. This ranges from musical instruments and hearing aids to audio devices and audio design itself.

A particularly unusual instrument hangs above the first platform. It is a kite that dances in the wind and generates sounds. Florian Dombois connects it to a resonating body via a string. Three actors bring it to life: a person on the ground, the kite and the wind, ranging from a light breeze to a storm. Anyone can recreate this principle.

This reflects the ethos of the DIY design movement. In 1962, the design theorist Victor Papanek developed the Tin Can Radio. This mono receiver, which could be built in the Global South, consisted of a tin can with a transistor and was powered by paraffin and a wick. Is this clever DIY or cultural imperialism? Although it has been the subject of controversy, the radio can still be built today.

Next to it stands the Unblocked Amplifier by Stijn Op De Macks, alongside homemade transmitters built by radio pirates who, in the 1970s, challenged the broadcasting monopoly of Switzerland’s public broadcaster SRG. They campaigned for the right to broadcast their own programmes and hid their transmitters in adventurous locations.

On the opposite side, we present a series of projects that improve hearing or support those people who are hard of hearing, using assistive technologies. These include hearing aids that have overcome the stigma associated with flesh-coloured prosthetics becoming fashionable accessories.

Speculative design projects explore what might be possible. Alena Halmes demonstrates how the heightened hearing of blind or visually impaired people can inspire new design principles in a series of cocktail glasses.

On the next, lower platform stands a two-part stereo loudspeaker by Svenja Mischler. The horn in the detachable mini-speaker improves speech intelligibility, particularly for people with hearing impairments. Its playful design is intended to appeal to all and help to destigmatise the hearing aid.

On the final platform, we present a selection of audio devices. These reveal the archetypal symbols for power, volume control, and speaker openings within plastic housings. These formal signs remain recognisable to this day.

Sound design creates the “soundtrack” for analogue and digital objects or services, making them more marketable. Over time, sound design has developed signals that we instantly recognise by sound alone. Conversely, poster design has evolved to create visual cues that we can almost “hear” in our minds.

(AI-generated translation)

Short guided tour through the exhibition