Talk show: MoMA has a thing for communication

The exhibition presents objects that interact with users through interfaces and information systems, and which have an emotional and intellectual connection with them.

‘Many people think technology is a problem because it dehumanises people. But I think it’s a great thing because it humanises objects,’ says Paola Antonelli, MoMA’s senior curator of architecture and design.

Nearly 200 projects are on show at the exhibition, divided into six categories – Objects, Life, Worlds, City, Double Entendre and Bodies.

The exhibition features physical interactive products, such as David Rose’s GlowCap medicine container system, and others that are more conceptual, including Mike Thompson’s Wifi Dowsing Rod. Basing his idea on the notion that rods have mythical powers to locate underground water sources, Thompson has created a tool that indicates the strength of nearby wireless signals.