Media: Audio

Information-Laden Objects that Require Technology to Access their Data

May 15 – September 1, 2026

We may never know when the first human marked a cave wall to boast of prowess on the hunt or incised a length of bone to serve as a calendar, but since the dawn of reason we have used objects to store thoughts, concerns, instructions, and emotions for others for later retrieval. Books and clay tablets are among the oldest and most familiar forms of stored information, but over the past century developments in media technology have allowed humanity to preserve and distribute vast quantities of sound, moving image, and computational data. These forms of stored information generally require some manner of interpretive device to unlock their contents, whether a phonograph, projector, tape deck, computer, or game console.

This exhibit is part of a three-part series concerned with media in their various forms, this installment focuses on audio-related media, including tape, disc, roll, wire, cylinder, and cartridge formats.

Curated by Stephen Singer and Abigail Traska