[-empyre-] introducing myself

[Stacia Yeapanis <stacialy@yahoo.com>]

Hi everyone. I'm Stacia Yeapanis. I'm new to the list
and am excited to have the opportunity to have a
discussion on these topics. Thanks for inviting me to
be here. Since no one has posted anything else yet,
I'll just say a few things about how my current work
seems to fit into the topic.

In general, my work is about how we (humans) find (or
create) meaning by participating in culture. So I make
work which strattles the Art World and other
subcultures like those that spring up around TV shows
or video games. 

For about 2 years I've been working on a project
called "My Life is a Sim." It's  a transmedia project
that uses the simulated-reality computer game The Sims
2 as a medium in making art. In playing the game, I
explore the multiplicity of meanings that can be made
from a single cultural product. To date, the project
includes: a fansite ( www.simthetic.com ), a blog (
www.simantics.blogspot.com ), a performative Power
Point lecture, a series of musical slideshows, several
videos, and a series of digital prints. Each of these
is a work unto itself, but refers to the lived
performance of playing the game.

My initial interest stemmed from the nature of the
game, in which players pursue their own purposes and
perform their own subjectivity by using their Sims as
extensions of themselves. Gameplay becomes an ongoing
negotiation of the self. ThereÕs no way to win the
game, unless you perceive that youÕve won. Players
donÕt all play for the same reasons or make the same
meanings from the practice of playing.

If anyone isn't familiar with the game, here is the
official site:
http://thesims2.ea.com/
And the wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_2

Great to be here.
Stacia



       
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