RR-126 Radio-Phonograph, 1965; Designed by Achille Castiglioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni; Manufactured by Brionvega, S.p.A; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of George R. Kravis II, 2018-22-96-a/c; Photo: Matt Flynn
Art of Noise shows how design shapes the way we experience music – how and where we listen to it, how it’s communicated visually, and what we choose to hear. For many people, these design choices feel like a part of the music itself; they become a key part of how we remember and understand sound in a multisensory way – through our ears, our eyes, and our sense of touch.
Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and adapted to the history of the New York music scene for its East Coast presentation, Art of Noise presents hundreds of works that have shaped our relationship to music over the past century. From concert posters to record albums, phonographs to digital music players, handheld radios to sound systems, the exhibition demonstrates how our experiences are built by both the sounds we hear and the objects that help illustrate or activate them, whether through color and composition or through form, material, and mechanics.
Devon Turnbull, HiFi Pursuit Listening Room Dream No. 3, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2025; courtesy Devon Turnbull/Lisson Gallery; Photo: Mark Waldhauser
Model 566 Bluebird Radio, 1934; Designed by Walter Dorwin Teague (American, 1883–1960); Manufactured by Sparks-Withington Co. (Jackson, Michigan, USA); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of George R. Kravis II, 2018-22-1; Photo: Matt Flynn
teenage engineering, choir, 2022; © teenage engineering
iPod Digital Music Player, 2001; Designed by Jonathan Ive (British, born 1967) and Apple Industrial Design Team; Manufactured by Apple (Cupertino, California, USA); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of David and Kelly Theresa Linton, 2009-49-1; Photo: Matt Flynn
Special Model M Phonograph, ca. 1935; Housing designed by John Vassos (American, born Romania, 1898-1985); Mechanism designed by Alfred Weiland (American, 1887-1975), Selden T. Williams (American, 1892-1983); Manufactured by RCA Victor (New York, NY, USA); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of George R. Kravis II, 2016-5-11; Photo: Matt Flynn
Stereo Chest, 1973; Designed and made by Wendell Castle (American, 1932-2018); Dual 1229 turntable, Kenwood model KR-5150 receiver; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of Linda and Irwin R. Berman, 2005-9-1-a/e; Photo: Ellen McDermott
AMPLIFYING MUSIC THROUGH GROUNDBREAKING GRAPHIC DESIGN
Unforgettable album covers, flamboyant posters, and eye-catching flyers demonstrate graphic design’s ability to provide a visual accompaniment to auditory experiences. These visual outputs are so correlated with the sound that genres of music are often associated with specific typographic styles, color palettes, and even production techniques – from hand-drawn to photocopied to digitally manipulated.
Milton Glaser, Dylan Poster, 1967, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of the designer; © Milton Glaser, permission of the estate of Milton Glaser; Photo: Tenari Tuatagaloa
Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures. Poster. 1979. Designed by Factory Records after Peter Saville. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, purchase through a gift of Jenny Emerson and Accessions Committee Fund; © Peter Saville; Photo: Tenari Tuatagaloa
Poster, 11th Summer Jazz Festival, 1979; Takenobu Igarashi (Japanese, 1944–2025) for Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan); Printed by KY Printing Co. Ltd. (Japan); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of Takenobu Igarashi, 2018-18-14; Photo: Matt Flynn
Poster, Chambers Brothers Band, Neon Rose #12; Victor Moscoso (Spanish, active USA, born 1936); Published by Neon Rose (San Francisco, California, USA); Printed by Graphic Arts of Marin (California, USA) and Cal Litho (California, USA); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of Sara and Marc Benda, 2009-12-23; Photo: Matt Flynn
Poster, Grammo-Grafik [Record Graphics], 1957; Gottlieb Soland (Swiss, born 1928) for Kunstgewerbemuseum (Zurich, Switzerland); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of Sara and Marc Benda, 2009-12-19; Photo: Matt Flynn
Art of Noise, Installation view / Cooper Hewitt / Smithsonian Design Museum. Photo: Thomas Barratt
MUSIC TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATIVE PRODUCT DESIGN
The look and feel of music players – including radios, stereos, boomboxes, turntables, and portable devices – has developed alongside advancements in technology and evolving cultural aesthetics. Art of Noise maps these expressive styles and iconic product designs, from the mechanical and analog playback devices of a hundred years ago to the modern tools that deliver nearly infinite access to digital streaming.
Thilo Oerke and Rosita Tonmöbel, Rosita Vision 2000, 1971; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams; Photo: Don Ross
SK 55 Radio-Phonograph, 1963; Designed by Dieter Rams (German, born 1932) and Hans Gugelot (German, 1920-1965); Manufactured by Braun AG (Frankfurt, Germany); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor, 1986-99-6; Photo: Matt Flynn
Mario Bellini, Pop Automatic Record Player, 1968; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, bequest of the George R. Kravis II Collection; Photo: Katherine Du Tiel
Tom Sachs, Model Thirty-Six, 2014; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, purchase through a gift of the FOG Forum; © Tom Sachs
Verner Panton, 3300 Stereo, 1963; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams; Photo: Don Ross
LISTENING ROOM BY DEVON TURNBULL
Central to the exhibition’s experience and located on the first floor of Cooper Hewitt is HiFi Pursuit Listening Room Dream No. 3, a large-scale, handmade, audio system by multi-disciplinary artist Devon Turnbull. The listening room is programmed daily and activated throughout the run of the exhibition with either special live operator appearances or genre specific playlists.
EXHIBITION DESIGN BY TEENAGE ENGINEERING
The exhibition environment is designed in collaboration with Stockholm-based teenage engineering, whose groundbreaking speakers and synthesizers have garnered an international following. Museum visitors will encounter a new interactive seating environment designed by teenage engineering with a custom-designed device for audio playback that allows visitors to interact and discover new music. The device contains curated playlists that span genres and eras, with songs focused on the incredible range of music created or augmented in New York.
Art of Noise
December 12, 2025 – August 16, 2026 / Cooper Hewitt
Organized by SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
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