Groundwork
When message and medium intersect.
Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat during a routine traffic stop. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing traffic stop data, policing trends, and their community impact to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.
Scenic Route parks in your inbox on Fridays to merge the lanes of immersive storytelling and politics and help you find a better view.
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In this issue: Earlier this week, I shared Latent Views’ analysis on the need to switch gears in standard arts funding practices. Global fine arts exhibition forums continue to experience roadblocks, as the Trump administration’s tariff-infused economic agenda has accelerated market fluctuations, hindered cross-cultural collaborations due to art shipment delays, and elevated logistical costs for suppliers. Consider how movie tariffs may immobilize global film markets and open the door to prejudicial cultural tests and forecasting becomes increasingly difficult to ascertain. That’s where the art itself comes into play. This scenic route explores when message and medium intersect.
Pretextual Stop
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, was stopped by Iran’s Guidance Patrol, the religious policing unit commonly referred to as Iran’s “moral police”, in 2022 for not wearing her hijab in accordance with government standards. She died at a hospital in Tehran shortly after her arrest. Journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who were sentenced in Iranian court and pardoned, revealed her death was due to police brutality, which led to a wave of global protests.
A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review details a framework for measuring narrative change, deconstructing narrative change work into categories: arts and entertainment, strategic communications, and organizing. Mahsa Amini’s story, and the artistic collaborations that were inspired by it, visually interpret every facet of this framework.
While visiting Vienna in 2023, I stopped by the MuseumsQuartier (MQ)’s public art installation named after the Kurdish slogan, Women, Life, Freedom, that became the core message of global outcry following Mahsa Amini’s death. More recently, while in New York, I viewed Atelier Jolie’s Strand for Women exhibit, which featured a collection of hair strands from over 2,000 global participants in support of the #WomenLifeFreedom movement. In After Silence, an original work from Garrett Smith choreographed for Houston’s Vitacca Ballet, themes of oppression, war, injustice, and inequality reflect Iran’s multifaceted history and Amini’s death as told through the lens of contemporary ballet movement. Much like Stanford’s narrative change framework, each visual interpretation demonstrates the reality and resonance of Mahsa Amini’s story and serves as a poignant reminder of the power in organized, creative resistance.
Stay the course,
Sam
Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.
Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.
