HANDS-ON GET-UP are a series of reconfigurable, wearable installations that aim to explore tactile expression and shared creativity through clothing.  Questioning issues of personal and private space, these wearable structures hope to re-evaluate the fabric of individual and social identity.  As a child, clothing is so much more than protection from the elements.  It is our first instrument of expression.  If we pull our sweater over our eyes we can become invisible.  Tugging on our sleeves we can make our hands disappear.  The zipper on our coat becomes a first musical instrument.  And if we flip our jacket over our head we create a shelter for a friend in the rain.  Our clothing becomes the fabric of an unselfconscious, improvised dialect.

HANDS-ON GET-UP aims to explore the possibilities of clothing as a social tool for singular or collective communication. Can a wearable structure become a canvas for playful discovery?  Are inhabitants of these structures able or inclined to become adventurers of their own portable space?  How do co-habitants of the surrounding environment respond? Can this become a collaborative experience that draws people together? Through a series of creative workshops, I propose to develop a set of mechanical reconfigurable garments that initiate proactive interaction between wearer and wearers. An extension of clothing, they will be used to encourage social exchange, simultaneously unveiling a series of potential narratives. As transformable wearable sculptures, they will challenge expectations of those around us.

On April 1st between 9:30-12:00, we have arranged a body-mapping workshop with Kate Hartman's Thinking Physically group.  The plan is to explore instances of isolation and unexpected connection within the city space through personal reflection and on-street observation and sketching. The group will then be  asked to, fast-prototype a body-centric device that relates to their chosen story, with an aim to initiate playful encounters within the urban space.  These artifacts will then be road-tested.  We will document both the expected and unexpected response of pioneers.