By Mario Cruz
Celebrating the design and innovation of the technologies that sparked the digital revolution – Featuring selections from the private collection of Mario Cruz with restoration support from Miguel Corteguera.
Step Into the Spark
Step into the spark that ignited our digital age. Dawn of Digital: The Art & Soul of Early Computing invites visitors to explore the iconic devices that revolutionized the relationship between humans and machines.
This carefully curated exhibition pays tribute to the bold industrial design and technological innovation that defined the dawn of personal computing—from raw circuitry to sculpted elegance.
More Than Code and Hardware
At the core of this exhibit is the belief that computing has always been more than code and hardware—it is a reflection of human imagination, aspiration, and design. Each object on display, generously loaned by collector Mario Cruz, tells a unique story of a pivotal moment in our collective technological evolution.
Together, they form a visual timeline of ingenuity: machines that shrank rooms of computing power into homes, schools, and briefcases—each one reshaping how we live, work, and play.
Featured Artifacts
From the functional minimalism of the TRS-80 Model 3 (1980), engineered to overcome radio interference and offer stability for home users, to the whimsical, award-winning elegance of the iMac G4 (2002), design evolves alongside accessibility.
Early pioneers like the Commodore VIC-20 (1980) made computing affordable and friendly, while powerful systems like the PDP-11/70 (1975) served as the unseen backbone of scientific progress.
Witness the playful rise of gaming consoles like the ATARI 2600A and Magnavox Odyssey 2, which transported the arcade into the living room and introduced a generation to digital interactivity.
Meanwhile, the Kaypro II and TRS-80 Model 100 embodied early dreams of computing on-the-go, encapsulating the rugged portability and purpose-driven design that shaped today's mobile devices.
Cultural Objects
Dawn of Digital not only celebrates these technological artifacts as milestones but elevates them as cultural objects—evidence of an era that dared to imagine computing as universal. These machines reflect the shift from the specialist to the everyday user, from labs to living rooms, from mainframes to mouse clicks.