yet here nostalgic in its punk memories and DIY ac-
cessibility. Following the ideas of Lawrence Lessig
and his description of the digital culture not as a
“read-only” culture, but as a “read/write” culture the
aim of the jewelry was to be an interface to “write
back” with. With this kit the wearer could explore a
new form of jewelry, where he was no longer a “read
only” consumer, but a “read/write” co-author of per-
sonal expression.
In combination with these two kits I made a special
edition of seven fashion ReForm manuals that were
collected into one cookbook. They consisted of sev-
eral pants, shirts and jackets and I also produced
fashion images of the finished garments, something I
had not done before. The step-by-step instructables
were organized in a way to give a more refined im-
pression, not in square boxes as the usual PDFs, but
using the spreads of the booklet more freely.
For producing the fashion photos for the cookbook I
tried a new approach. To remain anonymous and re-
main “just anybody”, the “just anybody” whom I
hope would use the manuals, I used a latex mask to
cover my face. The first intention was to stay hidden,
but it also came to give the images a reference to sub-
cultural scenes and S&M dress. This also came to
express a darker and more “evil” side of the projects,
as anonymity also releases other energies and con-
notations, a stigma of heresy or brute violence of ter-
ror, yet it also worked as a comment on what hacking
is often documented as in public debate. The title of
the collection, “Disneyland can wait”, after a song by
Boyd Rice, helped underscore this aspect of the
cookbook. For the photo session I worked success-
fully with the photographer and film-maker Jens
Klevje, who later also took photos for later projects.
&The Abstract Accessories were both DIY kits and es-
says that added a layer of abstraction or theory.
When engaging with them the buyer would put two
forms of time into them that is rarely invested into
clothing. Both a time of hands-on craft (sewing, em-
broidering, wire-writing), and a time of reading the
essays, reflecting on the theories and stories. Both
these investments are unusual in fashion, and chal-