The walk-through installation from artist Lisa Jamhoury examines the body as an interface in a world of digital compression
AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, February 24, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — When Life Becomes Data, What Remains? As more of our lives are filtered, archived, and monetized online, award-winning artist Lisa Jamhoury (NEW INC, Royal Shakespeare Co, Onassis ONX) premieres loss·y in the XR Experience Competition at SXSW (March 12–18, Austin, TX). The immersive installation turns the visitor’s body into the interface, restoring agency in a world where our lived experience is increasingly shaped by technology.
Developed in the aftermath of her mother’s death, loss·y explores what survives translation when human presence becomes a digital artifact. At a moment when avatars, feeds, and algorithmic profiles increasingly stand in for lived experience, the work asks a direct question: what is discarded when a self is compressed?
Inside a walled environment, audiences encounter three suspended split-seconds of a motion-captured duet. Each moment appears as both large-scale projection and a 3D-printed sculptural form. Visitors wear headphones equipped with a bespoke spatial tracking system built by Clémence Debaig of Unwired Dance Theatre; as they move through the room, the audio shifts. Stepping closer to sculptures reveals sonic layers, poetry, and ambient sound. The body physically mixes the experience.
The title references “lossy compression,” a digital process that reduces file size by permanently discarding data. Jamhoury extends the metaphor: images, avatars, text, and captured movement inevitably shed dimensionality.
“These systems promise preservation, but they also erase,” says Jamhoury. “I’m interested in that tension: what remains, and what cannot be stored.”
Spoken-word poetry written by Jamhoury accompanies each vignette, including the refrain “so it goes,” a quiet memorial threaded throughout the piece, performed by Emily Reilly. Spatial sound compositions by Emmy-nominated composer Matt McCorkle blend technical language, reflections on digital dysmorphia, and traces of surveillance culture into what Jamhoury describes as “an elegy to the vital body, at once human and digital.”
At SXSW, where immersive media often celebrates spectacle, loss·y offers a quieter provocation: if platforms increasingly mediate how we interact with space and the people around us, what parts of our experience survive?
loss·y is co-produced by Lisa Jamhoury Studio and Onassis ONX, and presented as part of the Future Art and Culture programme at SXSW, produced by British Underground and Arts Council England with partnership support from the British Council. loss·y is additionally supported by EY Intelligent Realities Lab and Royal Shakespeare Company with special thanks to Da-Lite, a brand of Legrand | AV, for projection screen support. This work series has been made possible with support from King’s Arts and Humanities, King’s Culture, NEW INC, Onassis ONX, Media Art Xploration, Da-Lite and OptiTrack.
Director: Lisa Jamhoury Spatial Audio Partner: Clémence Debaig / Unwired Dance Theatre Sound Artist: Matt McCorkle Choreography and Performance: Françoise Voranger, Andrea Nikki Ortiz / Hybrid Movement Company Dramaturg / Voice: Emily Reilly Visual Effects: Sneha Belkale Poetry: Lisa Jamhoury Producer: Maia Sauer Technical Direction, Motion capture, Animation: Lisa Jamhoury Technical Production: Astro Lee, Dan Ribaudo, Matt Romein Trailer Edit: Mathys Ideas 3D Modeling: Woraya Boonyapanachoti, Guðjón Örn Lárusson, Lisa Jamhoury, Huascar Acosta, Neil Jakeman Photogrammetry: NYCAP3D Distribution: Kiron Heriot-Darragh
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