Image source- MOMA. Ray Tomlinson. @. 1971. In 1971, Tomlinson chose the little-used @ sign for his first e-mail, thus retrieving the @ sign from its relative obscurity.

Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design, is known for her daring collection approach. She is always pushing the envelope in shaping the MoMA Collection. In her view, building the collection is less about objects, but instead about concepts. These concepts are often not static but changing, such as the programming of a website, interactive display or the latest acquisition, the @ sign.


Image Source: NYtimes.com The @ sign as on the keyboard

Entering the Collection for free, the @ sign, with a long history and origin unknown, is more an idea than object.  While for centuries the @ sign was relegated to a little-used accounting symbol, the @ sign was reappropriated in the 1970s for the first email, thus launching its return.

Image source- MOMA. The @ symbol used in a 1536 letter from an Italian merchant

The @ sign acquisition, approved with near unanimity by MoMA’s acquisitions committee, should have no problem moving to Paola’s next coup–adding a 747 jet to the collection. Antonelli imagines one day that people could fly on actually operating MoMA jets– complete with MoMA boarding passes, novel cabin designs and undoubtedly an educational and provocative experience. And we’ll probably never look at this little @ sign in the same way ever again.

Read more about @ at  MoMA Inside/Out Blog and the NYTimes article