RadioLoss

Lost media refers to audio, video, audiovisual or other material – originally intended for public viewing – that has been fully or partially lost. These pieces of media might be no longer available due to having no more remaining copies to be known, being hidden, deleted, destroyed or obscured; or, as an edge case, they may not even be real (e.g. urban legends) or have never been released in the first place. Such artefacts can also be political: believed-to-be lost media can fuel conspiracy theories when linked to propaganda, censorship, historical revisionism or a control of media. A subcategory of lost media is lostwave, which specifically refers to lost music. Evoking a sense of mystery, loss and nostalgia of a past out of reach, these cultural 'ghosts' have a conceptual link to hauntology and hauntological music too, such as The Caretaker’s work of distorted samples of old records. Apart from archival and preservation companies, the research and collecting of lost media is a communal effort. It attracts people to online communities such as r/lostmedia and r/lostwave on Reddit, or The Lost Media Wiki website.

Radio Loss is an installation that consists of an MP3 player module, a short-range FM radio broadcaster, FM radio receivers and audio players. Built in a DIY aesthetic, the broadcaster and the receivers are placed in proximity, but in different locations of the exhibition space. The radios play an infinite audio loop consisting of various different lost media pieces. The collaborative audio piece broadcasted and played in the exhibition space consists of many lost media elements, reflecting on its several subcategories (lostwave songs, voice recordings, field recordings, etc.). Through invitations of artists and musicians, the piece is constructed of artificial, fake lost media parts (fake lostwave songs, fake politically censored media, speculative documentary elements, etc.), as well as “real” collected lost media pieces sourced from online communities.