Cica Ghost’s latest turn of whimsy opened in Second Life towards the end of April, bringing with it another opportunity to leave the weight of the world behind and just have a little fun and let a smile or six crease your lips.
Rocks and Drums is another charming setting featuring giants, strange houses, beautiful flowers, vehicles, dancing, and a sense of fun. It comes with a line from American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer, Patricia Lee “Patti” Smith, If you don’t have what you need, just rock with what you’ve got!
Cica Ghost, April 2024: Rocks and Drums
Given the core aspect of this installation is rock, it’s an apt quote. This is a place of rocky hills, rocky cairns, stone of primitively-hewn rock, and most notably rock giants and strange houses hewn from rock. Some are on the ground, other balance precariously on the top of stacks of flat rocks or rocky plinths. Like the stone giants, the houses are topped by tufted grass-like hair.
Across the land, grass and flowers grow tall, and people can wander freely. The stone giants are not the only creatures here, huge friendly treemen can also be found, and can rocks with fair-sized teeth!
Cica Ghost, April 2024: Rocks and Drums
While the houses on the ground are easy enough to access, those atop rock piles and plinths present something of a problem. However, the answer comes in the form of flat rock tablets. Some have balloons attached, others are propellor-driven. Simply step up onto one as it reaches the ground and then allow it to carry you elevator-like up to one of the houses.
Those who fancy a shot of making like Fred and Barney can jump on one of three rock car rezzers and go for a drive around the setting. And of course there are Cica’s familiar dance stations and places to sit. So, go on over and let Cica’s creations raise a smile. Her shop means you can even bring some of them home with you if you like!
The Raglan Shire Artwalk is one of the staples of the SL art calendar, and for 2025 the 20th Artwalk will take place between Sunday, May 18th and Sunday, June 15th, inclusive.
Running across four weeks, the Artwalk is popular event among artists and residents, often attracting over 150 artists, who display their 2D and 3D art across the regions of Raglan Shire. All the displays are open-air, with 2D art is displayed on hedgerows in and around the regions, while sculptures and 3D art is displayed in a number of designated areas, all of which allows visitors to both appreciate the art and explore the Shire regions.
Qualifying Art
For the purposes of this show, qualifying art is defined as original representations of RL photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, and digital fine art that can be displayed on a prim; and SL photography, manipulated SL photography and SL sculpture. AI-generated art and pictures of RL crafts, such as beadwork, leatherwork, etc., are not part of this show definition.
Call to Artists
A Call For Artists for the 2025 event has been issued for those wishing to participate, and key points about the exhibition in addition to the above, are as follows:
It is a non-juried show.
Artists can display more than one piece if they wish.
2D artists (“flat” art – photos, paintings, etc.) will be awarded a maximum of 15 LI. Individual pictures should be 1 prim, including the frame, and pieces should not exceed the height of the hedgerows against which they are displayed. No hovertext allowed.
3D artists (sculptures, etc.), will be awarded a maximum of 500 LI for up to three pieces of work. Artists are requested to state the LI per piece in their application, together with its overall dimensions (length, width & height). Note that any piece exceed 10m in any of these will require special permission from the organisers.
In addition:
Sales of art are allowed, but tip jars and floating text are not allowed.
All art must be rated PG / G – so no nudity, please!
Group membership will be required in order to display work.
Touch-based landmark / biography givers may be included, but will count against an artist’s total LI allowance.
Registration
Those wishing to display their art should complete and submit the 2025 Artwalk Registration Form by no later than 21:00 SLT on Tuesday, May 12th, 2025.
Raglan Shire Artwalk 2024
Event Dates
Tuesday, May 12th: applications close at 21:00 SLT.
Friday, May 16th (after 09:00 SLT) and Saturday May 17th: Artist set-up days
Hedgerow space for 2D artists is on a “first come, first serve” basis.
Areas within Raglan Commons, Heron Shire, Athen Shire, and Morning Shire will be designated for sculpture set up – available locations will be designated with with a marker.
Sunday, May 18th: Artwalk Opens.
Sunday, June 15th: Artwalk closes.
Sunday, June 15th (after 21:00 SLT) through Tuesday, June 17th: takedown of works.
Event Contacts
In-world contact preferred.
Artwalk Director: Linn Darkwatch.
Artwalk Assistant: Panacea Pangaea.
Artwalk Assistant: Kayak Kuu.
Artwalk Assistant: Karmagirl Avro.
Questions may also be asked through the Friends of Raglan Shire in-world Group.
KOEXISTENZ is an immersive new art space created by Eta (etamae) & Jos (mojosb5c) I recently had the opportunity to visit, courtesy of an invitation from Eta. An experience-driven installation, it presents a unique blend of real-world images, digital art, 3D elements, movement and contrasts.
The installation stands as two elements: the Landing Point platform and the main sky platform. The former offers information on how to best view the event. I’d summarise this by saying:
The installation is best seen using a PBR viewer.
If you can, raise your graphics quality to at least High (Ultra is recommended, but TBH, unless you have a really high-end system / monitor, High works just as well).
You accept the local experience via the large “tablet”, to allow you to use the local teleport system.
KOEXISTENZ – April 2025
There is a recommendation to used the local Shared Environment – but to be honest, given the options present within the installation, whether you do or not is a matter of choice.
That said, I would recommend flicking to it, if it is not already selected on arrival, as it tend to show the Landing Point to its best – and its worth looking around (and under!) the platform before right-clicking the teleport disc to be transferred to the main installation.
KOEXISTENZ – April 2025
KOEXISTENZ has no set theme; rather it brings together multiple aspects of artistic expression – as described above – allowing visitors to simply immerse themselves in the installation and allow it to speak to them. In this there are two things to note on starting explorations.
The first is that the installation comprises three spaces, with two further large tablets between them. Touching either tablet will open a dialogue, allowing you to select one of eight different ambient environments. It’s worth taking time to experience the installation through each of them – that order you do so isn’t important – as they can change perspectives and views in the most subtle of ways.
KOEXISTENZ – April 2025
The second is that it is worth taking time to cam out and around the entire structure of the installation as a whole, if you can. There is a mix and flow of geometry to the structure that adds a further subtle complexity to the installation. It has its own unique beauty which should be witnessed in full.
Throughout the three chambers of the structure is a visually engaging mix of 2D and 3D elements – with some of the latter floating below the transparent floor, with some of the 2D pieces also animated. Reflection probes are used to huge effect, rendering beautiful results across the surfaces of floating tears, floating spheres glass-like statues and within the marble of the egg-like mounts of many of the pictures. Spheres revolve, cubes spin, bouncing ambient light over their flat faces. Changes to the ambient lighting via the tablets brings in to full relief the murals on some of the faces of the tent-like ceilings overhead. Everywhere you look there is something to see and admire.
KOEXISTENZ – April 2025
The division of work by the artists – the entire installation reflects their joint deep dive into the intricacies of Blender – is such that Jos created the physical space, Eta the lighting, art and images infusing some of the surfaces. Thus they offer a co-existence of styles and expression, ambience and art.
There is a rich layering of chaos and order throughout; pieces animate and move of their own accord, images ripple and flow, blobs vie with more regular frames to hold pictures, geometric forms and shapes impose order whilst reflections chase one another randomly as the lighting changes.
The Annex, Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, April 2025: Polly Reina – Just Polly
As I work to catch up on blogging – the last week or so having been focused on building-out an island home for a very dear and close friend – I’ve found I’ve a wealth of exhibitions demanding my attention. As such, I cannot promise to get to them all before they close, but I’m going to start here with a look at a first-time public exhibition for someone who have been involved in Second Life for many years, but who has only now been encouraged to display her avatar-centric photography.
As ever, that encouragement has come from Dido Haas, owner and curator of Nitroglobus Roof Gallery. Dido has a natural talent for – if not discovering, then certainly gently encouraging – artist who have never previously exhibited their work in-world to an audience of strangers to a point where they are comfortable with the idea of doing so.
The Annex, Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, April 2025: Polly Reina – Just Polly
The artist in question here is Polly Reina, at the time of writing a 17+ year veteran of Second Life. Polly has been involved in Flickr since 2010, and her photography, whilst avatar-centric, also folds into landscapes – notably of Tempura Island, where she is also an estate officer -, whilst also flowing from colour to monochrome collections and pieces and back.
With Just Polly, which is being hosted within The Annex at Nitroglobus, we have a thoroughly engaging collection of Polly’s monochrome self-studies, each one genuinely rich in narrative whilst also highly persona, offering a depth of emotions, moods and self-awareness that is utterly captivating. Whilst I could witter on at length and it, I’ll instead allow Polly to describe the collection in her own succinct words:
This exhibition is not just about capturing an image; it’s about feeling it … an intimate journey of self-representation in Second Life, translating emotions, moods, and identity into this space … where each image is a reflection of feeling, movement, and presence, brought to life … This showcase is not just about visual aesthetics but about the silent dialogue between self-perception and my expression. It’s about stepping into different versions of myself, embracing vulnerability, confidence, and the unspoken emotions woven into every image.
– Polly Reina
The Annex, Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, April 2025: Polly Reina – Just Polly
Thus, what we have here is a series of images which reveal so much through the selection of poses, camera angles and focus. Each of them carry a beautiful transposition of the thoughts, the emotions and feeling of the very real person behind the lens of the camera; a person who genuinely sees her avatar not as an expression of whom she might like to be (as can so often be the case in our relationships with our avatars) or a character intended to fulfil a role, but as an extension of who she is within the physical world.
These are piece that will fully and naturally speak to all of us who view our avatars the same way as Polly whilst at the same time offering a masterclass in photographic composition and the power of black-and-white to convey the artist’s thoughts for those who also enjoy photography from a technical as well as artistic perspective.
The Annex, Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, April 2025: Polly Reina – Just Polly
Given this, Just Polly is both personal and highly accessible – and as such, I’ll spare you any further blithering on my part here, and earnestly encourage you to pay Just Polly a visit.
I have a genuine love of poetry; be it Wordsworth, Shakespeare’s sonnets, Poe’s laments, T.S. Eliot’s journeys in verse, or evocative pieces from the likes of Masefield (Sea Fever) or William Blake’s The Tyger.
Both of the latter are perhaps populist pieces; there are few, if any, lovers of poetry who cannot quote at least their opening lines. However, both contain a wealth of imagery and a depth of reflection on life – something often missed when reading either, such is the strength of the overlying imagery within them.
Of the two, Blake’s the Tyger is perhaps the more structurally and visually impressive, mixing as it does trochaic tetrameter and iambic tetrameter, alliteration and focused imagery, whilst also containing a deeper questioning which reaches beyond its own form, notably in reference to its “sister” (and potentially less well-known) piece The Lamb.
The Tyger is also the subject of a new poetic experience by the master of visual poetry in Second Life, Sheldon Bergman (SheldonBR).
I’ve covered Sheldon’s work in this pages, both in its own right, and with regards to his collaborations with Angelika Corrall, both as artists at and curators of, the former DaphneArts Gallery in Second Life. As such, I was delighted to receive a personal invitation from Sheldon to visit The Tyger, and took the first opportunity I could to immerse myself within it.
Now, when I say poetic experience with regards to Sheldon’s work, I mean just that; The Tyger is powered by a Second Life Experience, and it is essential you accept it on arrival at the installation if you are to proceed further, and then ensure your viewer is set as instructed in the pop-up (with the caveat that you only perhaps need to set Advanced Light Model (Preferences → Graphics) if you are running a non-PBR capable viewer and don’t run ALM as standard). Once you are set, click the Continue option on the HUD pop-up to deliver you to the installation proper.
The Tyger, Sheldon Bergman, April 2025
A quick point of none here is that your screen will go into a “letterbox” display format, courtesy of the HUD – and it is essential you should leave it in place. A second note here is that I’m not going to go into a deeply analytical piece on Blake’s works, by they The Tyger, The Lamb, or the volumes from which they are drawn (Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience), nor am I going to dwell overlong on Blake’s use of The Tyger as an exploration and questioning of 18th/19th century Christian religious paradigms. While these all fold into Sheldon’s The Tyger, they have all been written about extensively elsewhere.
Rather, what I will do here is offer thoughts on what appears to be a much broader canvas on which Sheldon paints, using The Tyger and its religious reflections as his foundation; a canvas which – to me at least – appears to offer thoughts not so much on our relationship with God, but our place within, and relationship as a whole with, the cosmos around us.
The installation initially begins within a twilight setting, at one end of a path formed by the waters of a stream rushing outwards from high waterfalls. The watery path is lit at intervals by pairs of candles, one to each bank. As well as lighting the way, they perhaps suggest the opening line of the poem and the flashes of colour one might see of a tiger passing through the shadows of the jungle. However, of more practical tone-setting (to my way of thinking, at least), is the initial quote offered by the HUD on arrival:
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
– John Muir, environmentalist and philosopher
The Tyger, Sheldon Bergman, April 2025
This offers an intrinsic link between Sheldon’s use of the poem and its ability to question Christian tenets and paradigms with his broader theme as intuited above. One which grows as we follow the watery path as it travels through the gorge its has cut (symbolic, perhaps of the path we cut through life?) before the water turns to the left and enters a broad pool, and the visitor is left facing the open maw of a tunnel.
This opening, into which the flicking eyes of the candles lead us, is prefaced with a quote oft attributed to Joseph Campbell (although so far as I’m aware is not something he wrote):
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek
It’s a statement that potentially takes us in several directions: caves can be thought of of dangerous and the home of predators; thus we remain rooted somewhat in the poem: whilst not a cave dweller itself, the tiger is perhaps the apex predator among land animals today. Further, caves can represent a journey into darkness and the unknown – just as life itself is a daily journey into the unknown; just as we have no idea what awaits at the end of our walk through the tunnel, we cannot comprehend what awaits at the end of our journey through life. Might it be the “treasure” of the kingdom of heaven as Christianity and its ilk would have us believe? Or might it be a quiet return to the nothingness of the Cosmos which, ultimately, birthed us?
Within Sheldon’s tunnel we have the opportunity to reflect both on Christian thinking – and the joining of Blake’s The Tyger with The Lamb – complete with the opening lines of the latter (look for the side tunnel after passing the seaward opening in the tunnel walls). This is itself a layers element within the installation, encouraging us to consider Christian tenets (the Lamb of God, the Christian flock, etc.), whilst also underscoring Blake’s reflections on God’s apparently capricious nature as the creator of both the defenceless lamb and the deadly tiger:
When the stars threw down their spears, And water’d heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
The Tyger, Sheldon Bergman, April 2025
It is also here – or at least, a little further down the tunnel – that the installation opens more fully onto questions of our place in the universe, starting with a further quote. This one from one of the great thinkers of the 20th century (and one of my heroes), Carl Sagan. It is a image he used a number of times in his writings, but it appears here in what is perhaps its most widely-quoted form:
The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.
Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean (1980)
It is a quote that leads us, figuratively and literally, to a god’s-eye view of a spinning galaxy, a further marvellous metaphor and visual prompt for all that we might ascribe to Sheldon’s installation. It is also the perfect means to embody our unity with the universe, because to proceed, we must step through it.
The Tyger, Sheldon Bergman, April 2025
To do so is to enter the core of The Tyger, a space filled with the most incredible symbolism, questioning and statements for those willing to listen. From a vocal rendition of Blake’s poem, through the use of the Lacrimosa from Zbignew Preisner’s Requiem for My Friend (1998) to the lifting of the veil of blackness and revelation of Sheldon’s floating Tyger and its potential for layered interpretation, it is utterly breath-taking.
To itemise in words the richness and depth of all that’s offered here – from the poem, through the particular selection of Preisner’s Lacrimosa (hint: the piece has perhaps most memorably used to overlay the birth of the universe at the start if The Tree of Life, and we are perhaps particularly focused on the cosmos within this space) as well as its role within Zbignew’s Requiem (and indeed, the Catholic Requiem mass as a whole) to the presence of the floating Tyger and all that surrounds it – would be to defeat the purpose of the installation’s purpose.
Instead, I urge you to go and witness it; immerse yourself in The Tyger, its imagery, the richness of the poem itself and of Sheldon’s installation, and allow it to speak to you directly. It is magnificent.
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.
Cica Ghost, March 2025: Playground
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!
Cica Ghost, March 2025: Playground
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.
Cica Ghost, March 2025: Playground
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.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 