The Red Shoes: Unbound AR Installation 

Supported and developed by Screen South this was an exploration of XR and AR to create a piece in response to Powell and Pressburger's film The Red Shoes. Themes that I wanted to explore were control, violence and the oppression of female identifying persons, the idea that women must ‘choose’ between companionship or fulfilling creative passion. I explored this through AR by using Tarot Cards, inviting participants to explore the mysticism of Tarot.

 

The participant would scan the QR code and a suspended Tarot Card would appear in front of you, but when it is flipped over for the 'reading' a very 'unmagical' statistic appears exploring the current oppression facing female identifying persons across the world today. I wanted to create a contrast to the magic and intrigue and remind people that in real life the theme of control, of men choosing for women, of being bound to the ‘red shoes’ is still very much a real circumstance for women globally. I specifically choose the Rider Waite-Smith Tarot card deck to keep within the theme of oppression, as during the original conception of this deck the publishers failed to credit Pamela Colman Smith's work as illustrator of the deck.​