Ghostville, July 2013) – click any image for full size
It’s most likely the a lot of people first saw Cica Ghost on their radar screens as a result of her LEA13 installation. Called simply Cica, it ran from September 2012 through February 2013 and featured 2D black and white animated stick figures in their village, occupying a 3D immersive space. At the time, it captured the attention of a lot of people for its unique approach to SL art.
It was followed by Rust in March 2013, again at LEA13 (where it can still be seen for a while longer). While very different in approach and look to Cica, Rust nevertheless carries some similar motifs as evidenced in Cica, and includes much of the artist’s humour and playfulness first seen in that installation.
Ghostville, July 2013
Now we have a new installation from Cica to enjoy., and hosted by Per4mance MetaLES. Ghostville continues to build on the motifs seen in Cica and Rust, but presents them in a vastly different way to the other two works.
This is a landscape which echoes that of Rust in some ways, but which is also very distinct. In it is set a series of buildings, each of which is incomplete and yet complete as a build, if you follow me, and which presents its own little tableau or vignette. Among and within them are further echoes of both Cica and Rust, although this is by no means a re-tread of either. The broader influences are very different, with the buildings having something of a Mediterranean look and feel, and several of the vignettes allowing visitors to participate in them – there are chairs and window sills to sit on and at, board games to watch over, and so on.
Ghostville, July 2013
Cica’s own playfulness is once again much in evidence, and the composition of the various little sets is exquisite; you’ll probably need to take a look at each of them twice to catch everything.
There’s also something else here as well, which is hard to define – or at least which I’ve had a hard time defining. While there is a playfulness in the various vignettes, some of also seem to have a deeper feeling about them which is not always easy to catch, and which at times simply comes down to a turn of the camera or a change of viewing position which results in a piece taking on an entirely new appearance.
I honestly have no idea if this is in fact the case, or whether it is simply a product of my over-worked and family-distracted little brain. I do know that I thoroughly enjoyed my explorations of this piece, and will be going back as soon as time permits me the opportunity to spend a little longer there without RL looking over my shoulder.
Ghostville, July 2013
Ghostville opened on July 25th, and will run for two months. It’s not one to be missed.
Related Links
- Ghostville (MetaLES) SLurl (Rated Moderate)
- Art reviews in this blog
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
I think Cica has no accidents in the builds .. I think each part is viewed by the artist from many angles. Of course each brings to an artwork the perspective from their own experiences — but again, Cica has no acidents. 😉
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Oh, I agree.
All artists compose their work with the intention to give one or more meanings / messages. The problem is that at times, we as the audience over-complicate things and perhaps add layers which aren’t there. My last comment was really a reflection of that, and the fact that real life distractions might have cuased me to see some of the vignettes in a more complicated way than perhaps is the case :). Nevertheless, I loved the installation and will be back to savour some more :).
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I don’t think layering your interpretations over an artist’s intended message is a problem at all. Art can be considered as existing in the space between the observer and the observed. I suppose that’s one way it’s different from applied design, which can be evaluated on how clear the designer communicated the intended message. That’s what makes it so amazingly wonderful I find. We can all immerse ourselves in an artists work, and experience it completely differently – as simply or as complex as our current experience is. You can’t hope to experience art in a vacuum of your own experience, just as you can’t expect a book to mean the same to me as it might to you. I’d go as far as saying that the more art allows your imagination to fill in the blanks, the more successful in engaging you it might be.
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Again, I agree. But there’s a difference between immersing yourself in a piece and bobbing up-and-down in it due to distractions, which deflect from the experience. Sadly, that’s the problem I faced in visiting Ghostville yesterday. I should have perhaps held-off blogging about it until I could have spent more uninterrupted time in my explorations.
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Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah, you wouldn’t want to have a fragmented experience. That certainly gets in the way of appreciation.
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accidents .. sometimes I can spell
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She is very talented and the attention paid her creations receive are well deserved. I’ve seen this sim covered a whole lot lately, so much that I’m now itching to go there.
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