It's like my head

A young woman models an elaborate dress in front of a shadowy and judgmental audience. As she contorts her body into increasingly untenable positions, the audience rewards her with their approval. If she stops, they scowl, then leave.

This isn’t a description of a fashion show. It’s the premise of the new Kinect game and art installation, A Fitting, which asks players to put themselves in physical pain to gain the admiration of others.

Creators Amanda Dittami and Blair Kuhlman, both of the Interactive Arts and Media Department at Columbia College Chicago, wanted to make a game that reflected a young woman’s painful experience of trying to feel attractive in a society that sets impossible standards for beauty. It’s a social experiment, and for Dittami, 24, a personal one.

“I think about this issue every day,” she says. “It used to be worse, but just getting dressed and putting on makeup, I think about it. That’s one of the reasons it was so important to make the game.”