A Curious Case

Working professionally in the XR space, I was always very aware of what a privileged space I was in and that many folks probably don’t have the same access to cutting-edge technology. Therefore, I wanted to create a game that most people could access with their phones!

Working on the original Curious Case has really allowed me to push my creative process not only individually as an artist but also in collaborating with others on a project that was about experimentation and learning through play.

The original game mechanic that was developed over the course of Feb Fatale 6 was heavily inspired by Tarot card readings, where evidence cards are part of a standardized marker based card system and layers have to mix and match to combine different cards together to uncover more clues.

Over time, I wanted to explore more of the phone as a magnifying glass by designing it as something more familiar to the average person, i.e., a pseudo-smartphone OS. From there the evidence cards also evolved into more tangible/phygital pieces of evidence like maps and physical memory chips, that were intended to be placed in an exhibition scene setup almost like an escape room.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the experience along with this exhibition has evolved again. This time into digital artifacts that live on the web, and ever since I have been excited to continue to explore and adapt the concept.