Milton Glaser designed this iconic poster for inclusion in Bob Dylan’s 1967 Greatest Hits record. “It has this Technicolor exuberance that captures the energy of the Sixties,” Becker says. “Like his music, it runs against some of the more buttoned-down aspects of the culture that had come before.”
This 1956 radio and phonograph player, designed by Hans Gugelot and Dieter Rams, is known as “Snow White’s Coffin.” “Their goal was to create something unobtrusive and minimalist,” says Becker. “And it was a turning point in the revolution of the form of audio products. Most home stereos before that were larger cabinets, pieces of furniture.”
Factory Records’ go-to graphic artist, Peter Saville, used a readout of the radio signals emitted by a pulsar to create the cover art for Joy Division’s 1979 debut, Unknown Pleasures (seen here in poster form). It’s since become one of the most famous images in rock.
Speaker designer Devon Turnbull created this super-high-quality listening room specifically for the exhibit. It holds about 50 people. “It presents you with an opportunity to enter a room where you are to give deference to sound itself,” Becker says. “It becomes a transformative experience.”
Italian brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni created the RR126 stereo in 1965. It sells today for upward of $15,000. “They were thinking about anthropomorphism and playfulness,” says Becker. “The dials kind of become a face. The push buttons of the input selectors become a mouth. The speakers, which hang on either side of the cabinet, become ears.”
This Doors-Yardbirds poster from July 1967 is the work of psychedelic artist Bonnie MacLean. “Bonnie was creating some of the most brilliant, expressive posters of the time,” Becker says. “Highlighting her work is important.”
Swedish design studio Teenage Engineering made this DJ deck for the late artist and fashion designer Virgil Abloh to use at the Coachella festival in 2019. “It modifies existing DJ equipment,” says Becker, “and gives them a whole new design wrapper.”