A Photobook That Comes to Life
What if a book were not a static object, but a living experience?
In ADE DEA: A Cover Version, every visitor receives a copy of the same photobook. As you turn its pages together with the other audience members, you are surrounded by a carefully crafted soundtrack played through immersive speakers placed around the space. Voices, music, sounds of nature, and darkness guide you through the book. The result is a remarkable act of collective seeing and listening: everyone experiences the same book, at the same moment.
ADE DEA by Photographer Sara Rossi
At the heart of the experience is ADE DEA, the photobook by artist and photographer Sara Rossi.
For ten years, Rossi wandered through the outskirts of Milan at dusk, exploring the places where city and nature meet. Abandoned lots, roadside verges, and small ecosystems reveal unexpected beauty in these transitional landscapes.
Her photographs capture wildflowers, plants, and fragile details often illuminated by a single ray of evening light. The result is a visual herbarium filled with wonder, where light and darkness are in constant dialogue.
The title itself stems from a playful word game. "ADE" is the Italian name for Hades, the underworld of Greek mythology, while "DEA" means goddess. Together, they form a poetic reference to transformation, the seasons, nature, and the perpetual movement between light and shadow.
A Soundtrack Created by Ambient Duo LOG
For this "cover version," an entirely new sonic world was created around Rossi's book by LOG, the musical duo of Ulla and Perila.
Their composition moves between field recordings, subtle electronic textures, and warm musical tones. Organic sounds blend seamlessly with electronic landscapes, creating an environment that feels both familiar and mysterious.
The soundtrack does more than accompany the book. It opens up new ways of seeing the images. What you see influences what you hear, and vice versa.
A Unique Creation by Time Based Editions
ADE DEA: A Cover Version is part of Time Based Editions, an international project by theatre-maker Ant Hampton. The premise is as simple as it is surprising: existing publications are transformed into shared listening experiences.
For this edition, Hampton collaborated with Sara Rossi and LOG. The result is neither an exhibition, a concert, nor a traditional performance, but a sensory encounter between book, sound, and audience.
