MIRS / Museum identity
The mission of MIRS – Interactive Museum of Radio and Society is to ensure everybody has access to knowledge about the scientific and technological discoveries that enabled invention and development of radio.
From children to enthusiasts, and from schools to business, the Museum wants to welcome its visitors with an interactive and immersive experience comprising more than 400 historical radios displayed alongside other exhibits and collections, experiment points, multimedia info-points and immersive rooms exploring their various themes, helping visitors to discover the intimate and iconic relationship between radio and society from the 1920s right up to the present day.
Combining material exhibits and memories the Museum offers a multidisciplinary journey encompassing the “great” events in Italian history and the “small” everyday stories of normal people. It safeguards the historical record but above all inspires new generations to explore and appreciate the history of telecommunication from its origins to the present day, imagining exciting potential future developments.
MIRS aims to move beyond traditional approaches to the collection and presentation of important radio equipment, lined up side by side or displayed in large numbers in chronological order.
Radio is, both historically and culturally, a symbol of a whole host of varied and often seemingly unconnected concepts: micro- and macro-history, aesthetics and trends, and communication… to mention just a few.
This “household appliance” took over from the fireplace for an entire era as the focal point of the home, and fuelled globalisation, bringing the world into the domestic environment, live. The radio is more than just an object, therefore, and can be viewed as an active force that has impacted the complex and ever-changing systems of our Society.
Elevating
exhibits
the radio is not treated as a vintage article but as an element capable of impacting the world around it.
A multidisciplinary journey
rooted in conceptual and thematic exchange between the various materials and resources exhibited.
A rich and varied narrative
which develops coherently throughout the museum experience.
An interactive
visitor journey
through multimedia and digital tools that make the visit truly engaging.
A comprehensively captivating experience
thanks to museum design that ensures an immersive and multi-sensory environment.
Experiment
points
where visitors can experiment first hand and discover the laws of physics behind radio waves!
A hybrid approach to exhibition and archiving
enabled by architectural permeability between the two sides of the museum system.
Visitor
autonomy
tools to visit different areas and find information independently.
Careful attention
to accessibility
not only to physical spaces, but also in relation to content and information.
Multiuse
spaces
design of flexible multiuse spaces for cultural outreach and educational services.