Having written the title to this piece, I realised that it could just as easily be “Cica’s Playground IS Second Life”, because for well over a decade now, Cica Ghost has been presenting 3D art installations within Second Life – and has been doing so monthly for the last few years.
As a result she has, and continues to, present a wide range of environments and settings, many of them more-or-less entirely whimsical, some of them wonderfully layered, offering views of folk tales or myths or ideas with a depth of perception and evocation which have never failed to inspire. Throughout much of her work there is a simple statement of joy in life, and it is this, as much as everything else she carefully wraps in her installations which has made me a long-time fan of her work, and why I have always tried to cover her installations in these pages, collecting them under my Cica Ghost tag.
One of the first of Cica’s builds I both saw and wrote about was Ghostville, a 3D village inhabited by Cica’s (already by then) famous animated stick figures (see: A short stay in Ghostville). It was a wonderful experience, and led to further encounters with her little people in installations such as The Visitors, which made marvellous use of the pre-existing (but long since sadly departed from Second Life) art venue of La Città Perduta, aka The Lost City (see Visiting the Visitors).
I mention all of this because within Playground, which opened on March 25th, 2025, there is something of a nod towards those wonderfully animated stick figures, together with a range of other 2D elements offering memories of some of Cica’s past creatures and creations. They sit within a village-like environment which might also be regarded as an avant-garde playground (given everything appears to be made of carboard, adding to the playtime like feel) in which new 3D creatures bot large and small and quite wondrous in their respective forms might be found. I loved them all but the almost Yaphit-like pair brought a particular smile to my face – but that’s purely the sci-fi nerd in me!
Such is the jollity here that even stars appear to have sprung from the ground along with flowers and clover, bopping to an unheard melody (there is an audio stream, but I preferred to keep it turned off) as much as some of the painted creatures and the various Cicas awaiting discovery.
The potential call-outs to many of Cica’s past design might be pointed to by fans of Cica’s work; however, whether they are intentional or not, I’ve no idea. This being the case I’ll leave it to people to decide for themselves, because I don’t want to give the impression this is a place that cannot be enjoyed in its own right or is in any way some form of intentional retrospective – it is not; it is simply that there are a lot of perfect little bells that might chime for some in visiting, but which also do not diminish Playground in any way if they pass unheard.
As is common with Cica’s build, visitors can join in with the fun via dancing, while the particularly energetic can jump up onto one of the local flying saucers and help keep them spinning (and flying?). These are not the only way to get airborne – hidden in plain sight is the means to bring out your inner Supergirl / Superman – but you can find that on your own 😀 . For those seeking a little rest afterwards (or perhaps a mug of 2D coffee!) there are various places to set down and recover.
In all – wonderful!
SLurl Details
- Playground by Cica Ghost (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 