| Andrea Frank
LOSSY: Toward a Sensory Ecology
edited by Modesta Di Paola
Published by Aracne Editrice, 2020
140 Pages
ISBN 978-88-255-3142-8
Order from Aracne Editrice
With contributions by Michael Asbill, José Antonio Aldrete-Haas, Sheila Goloborotko, Paul Hirsch, Modesta di Paola, Ursula Reisenberger, and John Sterman.
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LOSSY – toward a sensory ecology explores Frank’s photography-based visual work in relation to her experiential collaborative research, which she calls System Drawing. It traces the artist’s effort to deepen her understanding of our interconnection and interdependence with nature, challenging us to reconceptualize our relationship with the world, and pricking our attention to become conscious of our fragility. “Lossy” references a term used in digital imaging, describing compressed image formats that deteriorate over time. The theme of loss (of species, biodiversity, and also of what we are able to see or experience as techno-crazy people) emphasizes the reality that biodiversity on our living planet is rapidly deteriorating. “Toward a sensory ecology” thus directly confronts our conception of the Earth as a machine instead of as a living organism, and connects, from a sensory, intuitive place with the natural world, with forest intelligence, and with the idea of co-creating. Frank’s collaborative sensory practices feed the exploration of a new way of being in relation with both ecosystems and each other. By expanding the philosophical and semiotic framework to include other living beings into the list of those capable of sentience, Frank is also transforming her observations and interactions, as well as her interrogation of and meditation on the nature of matter.
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