What's the Project About?
A first-of-its-kind sculptural ceramic project that extends into a generative art collection in collaboration with the collector. Inspired by the artist's struggles with her endometriosis alongside a childhood love of computer games and digital pets. GHOSTS combines handmade, unique ghost characters with digital interactivity and breeding mechanics, with the physical also hiding a fully-functional ashtray! GHOSTS has one foot in the physical and one in the digital.
Its digital and physical identities are linked immutably via an NFC chip embedded in the base of the sculpture, with its digital identity acting as a certificate of authenticity, alongside access to interactive features.
The Artwork
The first generation of GHOSTS is made up of 150 unique characters, each with individual physical and digital traits. These characters can be broken down into 10 family factions of 10 artworks with shared backstories and ‘family features’. The final 50 pieces of Gen Zero are reserved for collaborations. The full collection is capped to 333 characters.
Its visual identity is made up of features such as its eye shape, accessories, boot style, and varied colours. Each of these traits is represented in a digital code which indicates both dominant and recessive traits - just like the human genome.
Its physical identity is represented by a 3D model which acts as an immutable certificate of authenticity for the physical artwork but is also home to your GHOSTS digital genome, variable personality traits, unique name and backstory.
The final aspect of this project is an exercise in collaborative world building, inspired by the digital communities of Elska’s teenage years, as collectors will be invited to contribute their own ideas surrounding the elusive backstories of the GHOSTS in their collection and also the greater landscape of ‘The Midnight Realm’; the liminal space GHOSTS traverse when not haunting their ceramic vessels. As the project matures GHOSTS will have a component of free will and the capability to interact with each other, Elska relinquishes control to the generative aspect of the collection and allows it to form itself as a collaboration between the collector and the underlying technology she has built.
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