Deviant Augmented Reality

Gothic literature blossomed at a time when women needed a device in which they could grasp at emancipation from the patriarchal society in which they found themselves in. The female "gothic victim" blossomed with the emergence of female authors and new type of feminine protagonist. Around this time Victorian women were highly decorated and corseted. ..."the entire female body was one piece of jewellery, erotically stylized, deformed and alienated from its biological functions…” 1 However, for the first time in the history of literature, women were able to band together and write what their female readers had long wanted – an escape from reality. The literature became about breaking down the gender hierarchies and releasing the suppression of female sexuality.

These created characters or borrowed identities are what informs the Augmented Reality component of the media project. The “tattooing” or “branding” that I have applied to my Gothic victim’s neck is a marker which places her (voluntarily) in my Deviant gothic sub-culture. The I-phone, when directed at the image, peals away the mask which disguises her face - to reveal her true identity. In this way the dressing up and masking is removed. However, this is an exclusive action – she must permit the user access to her “marker” in order to strip off the mask.

In this way the technology reveals reality through its Augmentation – technology engaging with reality, but also in the idea of what our culture terms "true reality".

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