"Flash back / flash forward" by Giovanna Cerise at Split Screen

Giovanna Cerise often uses abstract, even mathematical forms as the framework within which she develops thematic elements, and somewhat similarly, when she writes about her work she frequently emphasizes the concepts behind it while understating its associative and narrative aspects. An especially strong example was last fall's Monochrome, which she wrote was simply an "exploration of color in all its components and inferences," giving no hint of the powerful imagery it presented (see my commentary on it, and also my review of her 2015 retrospective).

Flash back / flash forward, Giovanna's new installation now open at Split Screen follows much the same path. This time, however, she offers a more extensive statement about her ideas, which explains how time's passage, our tottering on the precipice between past and future, and the commingling of time and space are at the center of her thoughts. She writes,

The tendency to emphasize and almost exacerbate the instability and impermanence of the perception of what has passed and of what is not yet is the leitmotif of "Flash back / flash forward." ... Everything appears and disappears in a game of inside and outside, in the desire to create alienation effects, restlessness, suspended in an allusive and visionary atmosphere.... The installation, formed mostly from simple geometric elements, is thus presented as a destructured form, almost shapeless, with the intent to create chaotic and changing moments. Inside there are spaces that vanish in the complex but, depending on the angle, they are perfectly visible.

The installation from outside is an explosion in black, white and red; some prims strongly pick up the color of whatever windlight you use (Giovanna suggests trying a few different ones). An improbable yellow daisy at the base of the installation teleports us into the midst of a myriad faces, their eyes closed as if sleeping. Wandering inside we discover six rooms with highly dream-like scenes. A bulging cube made of a spiderweb of white triangles, with what might be a crushed black cube inside. Bright white sparklers (or are they dandelions?) with a thread winding through them -- but they turn black when seen behind certain walls. And several rooms suggest some sort of narrative, a bit in the style of René Magritte.

Flash back / flash forward by Giovanna Cerise

As you walk through and cam about the installation, transparencies flicker in and out. Objects are here and not here, visible and invisible. The touch of Magritte is highly appropriate: the enigmatic character of his work befits the theme of Flash back / flash forward. Time is equivocal, but still must run its course.

Flash back / flash forward will run until 31 July.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Coppelia/131/137/23

I would like to thank the members of Coppelia for allowing me to use their land for this Split Screen presentation.