Radio waves. When information travels.
"How can the invisible path taken by wireless data traffic through a room be made tangible, so that it becomes understandable and sticks in the memory?"
A Bachelor’s project by: Nico Schulz
7th semester, 2026
Supervisors: Prof. Tsunemitsu Tanaka, Prof. Andrea Krajewski
Topic
Every day we send messages, photos or voice messages – a swipe, a click – and the file is ‘on its way’. But what happens in the process remains invisible: how does information actually travel through space before it arrives at the other end? In my Bachelor’s project, I translate this abstract process into a walk-through spatial narrative. Visitors are meant not only to understand the process, but to experience it physically: from the original image, through its decomposition and transmission as a wave, to its reconstitution into a familiar form. The focus here is not on ‘explaining technology at any cost’, but on the question of how an invisible process can be designed and communicated in such a way that it becomes comprehensible and tangible as an experience – clear, exciting and memorable.
Background: Why I find exhibitions such an interesting medium
I find exhibitions as a medium particularly exciting because – when they are well-designed – they can not only explain content but also make it tangible. You don’t simply read; you move through a story within a space: you discover, pause, compare, move on – and piece together the meaning for yourself, step by step. For me, this is precisely where their special potential lies: exhibitions can be effective because they work with space, rhythm, shifts in perspective and powerful moments – and thus generate understanding not just cognitively, but as an experience.
What ultimately sticks in the mind is often not individual facts, but an image, a moment, a scene – an inner anchor. If we succeed in translating abstract concepts into tangible transitions and perceptible changes, understanding arises not just in the mind, but as a memory of something one has experienced oneself. It is precisely this potential that I wanted to harness for a subject that normally remains completely invisible.
The approach: a modular framework as a tool
To ensure that the insights from my research do not remain purely theoretical, I have developed a modular concept framework for exhibitions. It translates key principles into a modular system comprising building blocks, guiding questions and checkpoints, which can be used to design an exhibition concept step by step: from the core idea and the central theme right through to the question of how a storyline can be realised spatially – in other words, which scenes, transitions and media formats can convey the content in such a way that it becomes intuitively comprehensible to visitors.
It is important to note that the toolkit is not a recipe, but a guide. It helps you make more informed decisions, examine interrelationships and consistently think from the visitor’s perspective: What happens at this point? Why is this relevant? What should stick in the visitor’s mind?
To make the tool practically usable within my own workflow, I have also implemented the concept toolkit as a web application. The idea behind this is to avoid losing concept drafts amongst numerous individual files, but rather to organise them collectively and develop them iteratively – so that, ultimately, a consistent exhibition concept emerges from the many decisions made.
In the next step, I wanted to work with this very tool – and use it to design my own small exhibition piece by piece and implement it as a prototype.
Application of the modular concept framework:
Radio waves as the ‘journey of information’
The inspiration for this topic didn’t come from a textbook, but from a moment ‘out and about’: whilst out walking near my home, I suddenly found myself standing in front of a huge parabolic antenna – part of a former ground station that had been decommissioned several years ago. And this immediately raised the question: how do images and data – for example, from weather satellites – actually reach Earth?
The more I looked into it, the clearer it became: radio waves are not just ‘a technical topic’, but a cornerstone of our digital present – from radio and television to navigation, telephony and other forms of wireless data transmission. It is precisely this combination of everyday relevance and an invisible process that makes the subject so fascinating for an exhibition: it affects us constantly, yet we never see it.
To make this tangible within the exhibition space, I deliberately framed the theme narratively: as a simple, clear core idea – information travels. In doing so, it changes form, but remains the same ‘message’. Rather than delving into technical details, the focus is on a coherent sequence that visitors can experience through clear transitions and reference points.
The prototype: a process you go through step by step
The prototype is designed as a continuous sequence: you enter the first room, are immediately drawn into a situation – and then follow how ‘information’ changes form, moves on and eventually returns. Rather than providing a lot of explanation, the installation makes the process comprehensible through visible transitions and a clear spatial sequence.
Room 1 – Start: Capturing & Deconstructing the Image
Curiosity is piqued right from the start: a large projection of the Earth from a satellite’s perspective fills the room – and it quickly becomes clear that you yourself can become part of this image. A camera takes a photograph in which the visitor appears. Shortly afterwards comes the first disruption: the image begins to disintegrate, breaking down into individual pixels and transforming into a fine “pixel dust”. This dust sets in motion, detaches itself from the original image and flows out of the room as a visible trail – straight on into the next section of the installation.
Room 2 – On the Move: Transmission as a Wave in Space
In the second room, visitors can experience the transmission path for themselves: a steady wave travels through the room – from the satellite dish to the parabolic antenna at the ground station. It is projected onto a transparent, freely suspended fabric, giving it an almost holographic appearance, as if it were travelling right through the middle of the room. Meanwhile, the pixel dust travels towards the satellite dish. As soon as it ‘arrives’ there, the wave visibly changes: the change begins at the satellite and ripples through the room as a modulated wave all the way to the ground station. There, it is converted back – the incoming wave gives rise once more to pixel dust, which sets off again and passes into the next room as a trail.
Room 3 – Arrival: Reconstruction & Gallery
In the second room, visitors can experience the transmission path: a steady wave travels through the room – from the satellite dish to the parabolic antenna at the ground station. It is projected onto a transparent, freely suspended fabric, giving it an almost holographic appearance in the room. Meanwhile, the pixel dust travels towards the satellite dish. As soon as it ‘arrives’ there, the wave visibly changes: the change begins at the satellite and travels as a modulated (altered) wave to the ground station. There, it is converted back – the incoming wave gives rise once more to pixel dust, which passes into the next room as a trail.
Outlook
The next logical step is clear: the former ground station near my home, which originally sparked my interest in the subject, is to be developed into a cultural and exhibition venue in future. Visitors will be able to experience what used to happen at this site – and what the ground station was used for back then. This is precisely where my project would tie in thematically: that is why I would like to establish contacts with those in charge, present my concept and explore whether this could lead to a collaboration – ideally in such a way that individual elements of my project can be incorporated into the initiative or serve as a basis for its further development.
