Sound of a Lost Future. Failed Musical Instruments and Sound Technologies at International Exhibitions between 19th and 20th Century

In the middle of the 19th century, a brand new and unusual form of event emerged: the International Exhibition or World Fair. This new system of cultural and commercial exchange presents the characteristics of a medium, with unique organizational, representative and functional dynamics (Geppert 2010). The flow of musical  technologies  has  been conditioned by the diffusion of this kind of events  that  generated  and  fostered a global network, implementing  new relational mechanisms. To better  understand the working process of such  a  complex  network, it is necessary  to  consider  the  commercial  reports,  the  industrial  interests, the technological innovations and their reception. The aim of this research project is the analysis of how international exhibitions influenced the flow, the success and the failure of certain musical  technologies like  playback-recording  tools  and musical  instruments,  looking  at  how  they were catalogued and sold, and following the international relations that these objects triggered.