Can Wang

Un-Instruments explores alternative ways of making and experiencing sound by questioning what defines a musical instrument and how musical discipline becomes internalised in the body. Using experimental sound-making objects, the project challenges conventional ideas of skill, correctness, and performance. 

Informed by embodied experience of early musical training, the work responds to how rules, techniques, and expectations shape bodily behaviour over time. By removing melody, precision, and formal technique, the project shifts attention towards ambient sound, gesture, and intuitive interaction. Participants are invited to unlearn trained habits and engage with sound through play, curiosity, and bodily exploration rather than control or mastery. 

The project comprises six sound-making artefacts constructed from discarded wood offcuts, instrument scraps, willow branches, and found materials sourced locally. Using low-craft techniques such as carving, slotting, binding, taping, and partial finishing, the objects generate non-melodic, environmental sounds through movement, touch, and interaction, reframing sound-making as a reflective and inclusive practice.