Wireless is more in new radio exhibition

A new exhibition curated by a Sheffield Hallam artist and filmmaker is celebrating amateur radio's power to communicate with distant lands in the days before the Internet.

Wireless Worlds will house a huge collection of QSL postcards, uniquely designed cards that are exchanged as a result of two-way radio-communication between two amateur radio stations or operators and loaned by Sheffield Amateur Radio Club.

The exhibition will also show filmmaker Esther Johnson's documentary about Gerald Wells, founder and curator of the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum.

Esther, reader in art and design at Sheffield Hallam, has also invited local amateur radio hams to host an event at Sheffield Institute of Arts in the Cantor Building on Friday, April 12.

Wireless Worlds was first inspired by Esther's childhood growing up in Hull. She said: "I was first drawn to amateur radio by its sonics. My dad was in the Merchant Navy and I loved the tone and musicality of morse code.

"Using amateur radio was one of the only ways you could communicate with distant lands or forbidden zones in the days before global technologies and the Internet."

From Friday, March 8 to Saturday April 20, the main gallery will feature Analogue Kingdom - Esther's film portrait of Gerard Wells.

Wells’ stole his first radio, a Belmont, in 1943 at the age of 13. He was immediately sent to an approved school, whose psychiatrist diagnosed ‘an obsession’ with wireless and electricity – an obsession that continues today.

The house where Wells was born and still lives is now home to more than 1,500 wireless objects and 45,000 valves - the UK’s largest such collection.

Click to view the images

Analogue Kingdom reveals the charm of Wells’ world, where radio relics and their attendant stories fill every nook and cranny. With the digital switchover, Wells’ analogue collection is a reminder of the magic that may be lost.

Esther will also exhibit a selection of photography taken at the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum and items of analogue wireless technology during the exhibition.

There will also be scheduled screenings of Tune In, Esther's 16mm film portrait of the fascinating world of amateur radio operators. The upstairs Mezzanine gallery will host photography taking during the production of Tune In, and the QSL cards – which stand for

For press information contact: Laurie Harvey on 0114 225 2621 or email pressoffice@shu.ac.uk. For gallery information, contact Tim Machin at t.machin@shu.ac.uk. Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery is in the Cantor Building at Sheffield Hallam, Arundel Street, Sheffield.