Olia Lialina – LOSSLESS
26. 4. – 14. 7. 2018
"Lossless – from lossless compression – is the most poetic word ever used to describe a technical process. So beautiful and ephemeral that I tend to forget what it really means. Every time I see a subfolder named “Lossless” in one of my folders I am paralyzed for a moment; as if I am about to open a treasure box, to see a wonder, a remedy humankind has been searching for since the beginning of time: the elimination of loss, the undoing of the helpless, the sleepless, the inconsolable. Of course I know it is just the name for a standard computing algorithm, that the remedy works for 0s and 1s only, and that inside that folder are files waiting to be uncompressed and displayed without the loss of a single byte. But it is still a wonder."
Olia Lialina
The exhibition "LOSSLESS" showcases Lialina’s recent works centred on invisible or disappearing phenomena of today’s online culture. Going behind the designed presentation of today’s Internet and revealing the codes and protocols, the visible or hidden matters, the artefacts left by developers or users, Lialina monumentalizes and pays respect to the vernacular of today’s online culture while also trying to prevent their disappearance by acting as its archivist.
