AR installation recreates Claudette Colvin's 1955 bus protest in Milan

At MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan, an augmented reality installation titled 'Noire' lets visitors experience racial segregation firsthand. Based on Tania De Montaigne's 2015 essay 'Noire, la vie méconnue de Claudette Colvin,' the project recreates the 1955 Montgomery, Alabama bus incident where 15-year-old African American student Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat to a white woman, nine months before Rosa Parks' similar protest. The immersive experience uses AR HoloLens 2 glasses and bone conduction headphones, accommodating ten visitors at a time for 32-minute sessions. Produced by Novaya in collaboration with Centre Pompidou and co-produced by Flash Forward Entertainment (Taiwan), the adaptation was directed by Stéphan Foenkinos and Pierre-Alain Giraud. The installation opened on February 3 and runs until March 10. MEET President Maria Grazia Mattei emphasized that the directors chose immersive storytelling over documentary or theater to make audiences 'live' historical events, using mixed reality as a participatory language to enhance engagement and memory. The project aims to raise awareness about social discrimination, which remains relevant despite different historical contexts. MEET positions itself as one of Italy's few digital exhibition and research institutions, alongside Florence's Rifugio Digitale.