Wearable Instruments

Wearable Instruments, by Marisa Jahn & Steve Shada, is a series out wearable musical instruments that allegorize human relationships. This is a direction I'd like to investigate in my own work, it gives definitely other opportunities for people to create contact and explore other ways off communicating.

Exhausted: Two vests sewn with an accordion-like instrument between; individuals wear them facing each other; as the two participants embrace and pull away their movements generate sound. The bellows of the 'accordion', when extended to their maximal capacity, reveal the word 'exhaust.' In other words, the air fills the bellows when the individuals, frustrated ('exhausted') by each other, pull apart. This air is expelled/exhausted as the individuals embrace, paradoxically suggesting that through embrasure the frustration is dispelled or exhausted.

Hug n' Harp : A set of vests equipped with a stringed instrument component located on each vest's backside. The instruments are played when the participants embrace; the participants can only play their partner's instruments, not their own. Additionally, with the instrument's orifice positioned in a location accessible to others, the individual wearing the vest finds him/herself in a vulnerable position wherein anyone can access the vest and play his or her strings...