The Powerhouse acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the ancestral homelands upon which our museums are situated. We respect their Elders, past, present and future and recognise their continuous connection to Country.
Interface: people, machines, design explores how design has been applied to information technology products; about how a handful of companies made complicated technology appealing and easy to use. What they did effectively was, look at what you do, think about what you need and create what you want. Interface is about the visionaries who started some of the great consumer product companies of the 20th century, including Olivetti, Braun and Apple, and how the designers and engineers they hired found a means of imparting their ideals into the products they designed.
Interface considers successful and not-so-successful design methods and approaches, influences and ideals that are shared by different companies and designers, in different parts of the world, at different times. In this exhibition we extract those threads and pay homage to the ideas, the designers, the companies and the devices that preceded the extraordinary information technology that is now a part of our everyday lives.
2012/73/1 Electronic toy, 'Game Boy', handset and case with three game cartridges, plastic/ rubber / electronic components, 'GameBoy' designed by Gunpei Yokoi, made byNintendo, Japan, 1995Blue and silver Sony Walkman model TPS-L2, 1979 on black background2013/128/1 Radio and user manual, T1000 Weltempfaenger (world receiver), anodised and lacquered aluminium / plastic / electronic components / paper, designed by Dieter Rams, made by Braun GmbH, Germany, 1963H5580-2 Transistor radio, plastic / metal, made by
Regency Division IDEA Inc, America,
1954-1958'Apple' exhibition collection material: 89/279-1 Printer / data processor, Olivetti TES (Text
Editing System) 501/55, metal / plastic /
electronic components, machine support
designed by Ettore Sottsass, manufactured
by Olivetti, Italy, 19762003/27/1 Radiogram, stereo, 'RR 126', with original documents, laminated wood / plastic / metal / electronic components / paper, designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, manufactured by Brionvega, Milan, Italy, 1966P.5216/1 Computer, Apple iMac G3 Bondi Blue, plastic / metal / glass / electronic components, designed by Sir Jonathan Ive, manufactured by Apple, assembled in Korea, 1998