KOBA is located in Kreuzberg, Berlin. It’s is an electronic textile tailor shop where anybody can place an order for custom-made wearable technology garments and accessories. By offering a place for individuals to commission tailor-made technology, in a society used to one-size-fits-all, the question of what can technology do for you? is asked. Hannah Perner-Wilson and Mika Satomi have been both working in the field of eTextiles/wearable technology for more than 10 years as designers and artists. They try to approach technology with humor and craftsmanship.

“Pretty in Motion” is one of their realization: « written language is a powerful tool for private communication as well as public propaganda. How would you feel about displaying words that hold meaning on your body? Would you write your own words? Would you select from your favorite song lyrics? Would you ask somebody to compose a poem for you to wear? Would you choose powerful words that scream ideology. Would you use poetic language to express something you want others to understand. Would you become a platform for the public to voice their opinions?

« With “poetry in motion” we’re exploring what meanings we can create by putting words on the body. And for the first time in a long time I’m working with optic fibers. Thin plastic tubes that emit light when a bright LED light is shone in one end of the tube. The reason the light emits from the sides of the tube is either because the surface is scratched or damaged on the outside, or the tube is hollow within and a cloudy coating causes the light to “catch” and illuminate the tube. »

Another realization is « the extrasensory listener jacket « , the idea is to produce a jacket to cycle around Berlin listening to EMF
« We move through the world seeing coloured light, hearing audible sound waves, smelling certain molecules, feeling hot and freezing cold. Our realities are made up of what we perceive, of the kinds of information and data we can sense and detect. There are many physical phenomena in our world that our bodies are not able to sense/detect and we’ve developed technologies to do this for us. But these technologies tend to be housed in boxes, in hand-held devices, their data visualized on screens… what would the world be like if we had extra senses? If moving through the world resulted in a sound-track to our lives… how would we perceive the world differently? Experiences that alter our senses can help us change our perspective… »

www.kobakant.at

Photos Thomas Straub