Tag: Cica Ghost

As the old, old saying goes, “I have some bad news and some good news.”

The bad news is that if you were hoping to visit Cica Ghost’s Luna Park (see Cica’s Luna Park in Second Life), that build has now gone from Second Life, the result of low visitor figures, possibly as a result of clashing with SL16B.

The good news is that Cica has replaced it with something that is quite dynamically wacky (literally, if you wander across the landscape!), a piece she calls Cubes.

Occupying the same region as Luna Park, Cubes is a curious piece, comprising a barren landscape under a bright sky, occupied by a few bare trees, but which is periodically deluged by downpours of … huge steel reinforced concrete blocks.

These appear a handful of metres above the dry land, hover for a few seconds as if waiting for gravity to notice them and question just what the heck do they think they are playing at, before yanking them down to the ground, where they tumble and roll against one another and build random mounds and towers before silently poofing and starting over.

With the lines of steel bars embedded within them creating checkerboard patterns on their face, these great cubes look like a certain cubic puzzle game, albeit one usually made up of smaller cubes with coloured faces. Hence why, perhaps, Cica gives Cubes a quote from that game’s creator:

The Cube is an imitation of life itself – or even an improvement on life.

– Ernő Rubik

And, given these cubes are physical, they can have quite an – impact, shall we say – on life should you happen to wander out and stand when they are falling!

There is something very faintly Petrovsky Flux-ish (for those who remember that installation) about Cubes. The way the Cubes fall is mindful of the destruction of each Flux build – be here, all the pieces are regular, and the fantastical forms they create are entire as a result of their  dropping from the sky, rather than the starting point for their collapse. Watching them, like the parts Petrovsky Flux, can be oddly hypnotic.

I’m not sure how long Cubes will be open, but like Luna Park, it’s meant in fun.

SLurl Details

• Cubes (Meropis, rated Moderate)

Update, June 24th: due to low visitor numbers, Cica ha opted to replace Luna Park with a new dynamic installation called Cubes, which you can read about in Cica’s Cubism in Second Life.

Cica Ghost opened her latest installation on Saturday, June 15th. Called Luna Park, it is once again a whimsical trip into the fantastic.

As usual with her pieces, Cica offers a quote to go with the installation, this one from Walt Disney:

Adults are only kids grown up, anyway. 

It’s a part of a wider quote from the famous animator and film producer that reflected his entire philosophy towards films and entertainment – and why so many of us find his animated films so endearing: “You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”

This approach is why Disney films can be touchstone to our childhood, a reminder of a time when we were able to forget the world around us and let our imaginations run wild, even if only for an hour or so.

And so it is with Luna Park. It’s an opportunity for us to let go of the adult sensibilities and embrace our inner child; to put aside worries and concerns and simply immerse ourselves in fun, frivolity and lightness. It offers a marvellous landscape filled with curios and strangeness intended to raise a smile.

From a strange horn-like machine  that will dump odd metal shapes on you if you stand at the landing point, to tall funnels and box-like stages and boot / funnel-like structures, this is an interactive theme park where visitors are invited to wander, dance, sit, observe and have fun. There’s a lot to see and do throughout – make sure you take the time to hover the mouse over as much as you can, there are dances and poses throughout; make sure as well, that you climb all the ladders to climb into the boxes and funnels where steps are offered – you might find a few surprises!

It’s a place with many reminders of Cica’s past builds – such as her Frogs, a new take on her cats, her delightful flowers and stick figures and crow – even some of the structures present echoes of previous works, making Luna Park somewhat evocative as well.

But, when all is said and done, this is an installation that should be experienced, rather than written about, so I urge you to pay a visit and let your inner child out to play. Luna Park will be only be around for a month – and do please consider making a donation towards the cost of the region and Cica’s future art in SL.

SLurl Details

• Luna Park (Meropis, rated Moderate)

Sometimes I get sad… but then I think about yarn and everything is fine.

With these words, Cica Ghost introduces her latest installation Knitland – and it is one of the most imaginative and whimsical pieces she has yet produced. A wonderful landscape that could only be born of a rich imagine and taste for the fantastic, wrapped in a warm sense of fun and humour.

As the name suggests, this is a world that has been knitted together – quite literally. The ground is a quit of green and teal squares, some dotted with little flowers, undulating gently as if loosely thrown across a bed. From the landing point,  a green knitted “road” – for all the world looking like a scarf tossed carelessly atop the quilt – offers an path of exploration through the setting.

But it is the inhabitants that occupy thee land that captivate: birds, cats, snails, mules, chickens – even a gloriously knitted elephant. These all look out across the land, the spaces between them dotted by knitted trees, flowers and berries. Here and there, balls of yarn bounce up and down as they watch passers-by (and visitors can, if they like, pick up balls of yarn avatars from the giver near the landing point, and wear them during their visit). Here and there among the trees, flowers and animals sit quaint little knitted houses, sometimes with one or two handles attached, giving them the appearance of crocheted handbags.

Follow the scarf-road far enough, passing over balls of yarn and the back of a cat and between trees and houses, and it will eventually bring you to the girl who is perhaps responsible for the wonders herein, as she sits and continues to knit the scarf, a whimsical smile on her face.

As one might expect, scattered through the installation are numerous places to sit and / or dance, while strands of wool twist and turn through the air to form trails as if left by the passage of happy-go-lucky bees through the air. Climb the curving ladder that climbs the side of a large green pot, and you’re likely to have another surprise.

But writing about an installation like this really doesn’t do it justice; this is yet another piece by Cica that should be seen first-hand to be properly appreciated and enjoyed. And if you are feeling a little low, then perhaps it will – as Cica’s words suggest – lift you mood and raise the corners of your mouth into a smile.

SLurl Details

• Knitland (Dragonash, rated: Moderate)

I first came across Cica Ghost’s work as a result of Honour MacMillan writing a piece on Cica’s animated stick figures, displayed at LEA 13 from September 2012 through March 2013. Later in 2013 I visited Cica’s Rust, and fell in love with her work, which I started covering from Ghostville onwards.

I mention this because her latest piece, Drawn Town, which opened on February 1st, 2019, in some ways brings my acquaintance with Cica’s work full circle. Within it, she brings together both her familiar 3D design style and an echo of her drawings and stick characters.

Set against a midnight sky and black sea, Drawn Town presents just that: a town surrounded by fields of flowers, all of which appear to have been drawn in chalk on a black board. Or perhaps a better description would be a white-on-black drawing raised from the pages of a pop-up book.

It’s a simple, delightful setting. Star like flowers rise from the darkened ground, mirroring those rising from many of the chimneys of the finger-thin houses. Roads and alleys pass between the houses and buildings, thier routes simple horizontal lines on the ground, while plazas are marked out like white-on-black chequer boards.

Also scattered around and in the town are little black-and-white cars, available for anyone to jump into and start driving (just turn off your AO should you do so).  Also to be found are some of Cica’s familiar motifs: her cats, her little stick characters occupying various windows, and places to sit – such as a little café like setting in a town square, or benches by the fields of flowers.

Wrapped in a wonderfully apt quote by Maureen O’Hara, “In the beginning it was all black and white”,  Drawn Town is wonderfully whimsical, light and endearing. As per most of Cica’s builds, it will remain open through the month. Do be sure to visit!

SLurl Details

• Drawn Town (Koro, rated: Moderate)

Cica Ghost’s latest installation, Lullaby, opened on Tuesday, December 11th. It’s a curious piece, something of a celebration of the creatures that might be said to come out at night, together with touches of some of Cica’s previous installations.

For the byline to the installation, Cica has chosen the chorus from Lullaby for an Insomniac, by Kate Nash. Sung  acapella (albeit with an instrumental ending) the song fits the installation very well, offering something of a gentle subtext to the setting – although too deep an examination of song and installation should perhaps be avoided.

The idea was first, but I often listen Kate, so maybe it was influence. I listen her often when I work. I made the girl a few days ago; it was only house at first, but then she needed somebody to think of.

– Cica Ghost on Lullaby

The girl and house in question, can be found towards the middle of the strangely undulating region, perched on a curious table of rock and reached by a ladder impersonating part of the sine curve. She sits atop the house, staring into the distance, lost in thought, the landscape darkened by a greenish night. Her attitude suits the refrain of the chorus perfectly – a girl who is missing someone, and who finds herself unable to sleep and with little interest in how she looks or the state of her surroundings.

Her indifference to her surroundings is a shame, because across this weird landscape with its abrupt hills and valleys and unusual rock formations, the creatures of the night have all come out to play: flying bugs, spiders, curious worms with friendly, anthropomorphic “faces” courtesy of eyes sitting on slug-like stalks and very human tongues lolling happily, and heart-shaped flowers with large, unthreatening eyes. Even some of the hills have eyes, revealing themselves as the domed heads of creatures nestled far enough underground while still able to see what is happening around them.

All of this night, in other circumstances, sound like the stuff of nightmares, particular given the giant snail watching over the landing point – but it is not; it is a night-time setting of playfulness. None of the creatures are in any way nefarious; most are going about their business without concern for whatever else might be happening, although one or two do appear to be a little curious about the stranger in their midst, sitting on her odd perch.

Also to be found in the region are echoes of some of Cica’s past works: a bear stands up on one of the hills, for example. While he may be without a shirt, he and the flittering night bugs bring forth memories of The Bees and the Bears. The three frogs sitting close to the landing point directly reflect Frogs; a spider’s web offers a faint echo of Arachnid, even the girl herself, sitting atop her house, is reminiscent of Moonlight.

And here lies the gentle  – if perhaps unintentional – subtext of the installation. Just as Lullaby for an Insomanic reflects on the things we have and the sentimental value they can have, so do these aspects of Cica’s Lullaby gives those familiar with Cica’s work pause to remember her past installations and the joy and other emotions they gave us when they were present in Second Life.

There aren’t too many places to sit within Lullaby (they are there, but you’ll have to find them!). Instead, and tucked away on the top of one of the odd stalagmite-like rock formations Cica offers a free flying bug. Simply take it, Add or Wear it, and use the WASD / arrow keys, together with PAGE UP and PAGE  DOWN to fly yourself around.

Lullaby should remain open through until early January for visitors. There are several tip jars scattered around the installation, so do please consider a donation towards this and Cica’s future work in Second Life.

SLurl Details

• Lullaby (Ai Atoll, rated Moderate)

Cica Ghost sent me an invitation to visit her latest installation in Second Life, which opened on  Sunday, November 4th, 2018. Rusty is another of Cica’s more quirky builds, a strange post-industrial landscape looking like a little town and dominated y some strange machines.

Cica sums the installation up with a quote by Joseph Addison, the 18th Century English essayist, poet, playwright, politician, and co-founder of The Spectator magazine: Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week. While Addison, the son of a Church of England clergyman, was referring to the act of going to church – noting that it both refreshes people’s thinking around God and gets them looking their best in their Sunday finery – Cica offers no such religious connotations with Rusty.

Instead she offers a single suggestion: “have fun!” It’s an idea that’s also well suited to a Sunday, but which applies equally well whenever you opt to visit Rusty, because this is a place where there is a lot to do, besides wandering around.

Given the name of the installation, it should come as no surprise that rust features heavily here; it can be found on almost every surface – sometimes to the degree that you might think that simply tapping a drum or tower or metal line could result in all or part of what you touched vanishing a cloud of rusty dust and falling debris.  The structures themselves are many and varied – from chimney-like stacks to metal prams travelling along old metal tent spikes strung together to form cables. Part of some might resemble old watering  cans, others strange kettles with upturned spouts. Some even has a decidedly anthropomorphic look about them.

To the east of the region, for example, a series of ladders rise against some of these strange structures, one of which, with its large rotating wheels set either side of a hook-like bill, looking from a distance like some weird metal flamingo. More to the centre of the region is a very definite rooster, also offering a place to sit.

There are also metal creatures to be found here, from the massive wheeled (and ridable) cat near the landing point (if it is not already rolling around the region, jump up on its back and touch its tail light to start moving), to an odd metal spider, or the mouse also out on the water, well away from its cousin on dry land.

The “Flamingo” is linked to a neighbouring tower by means of a metal plank. Those wishing to do so can obtain a pair of boxing gloves at either tower and join in a game of Plank Boxing. Elsewhere are plenty of places to sit and watch others come and go, while a tall building offers the only place where machinery largely unaffected by rust can be found. Could it be responsible for keeping the place running?

Filled with Cica’s familiar motifs, Rusty is another whimsical installation that will remain open until the end of the month.

SLurl Details

• Rusty (Kymor, rated: Moderate)