Artist Statement
“I started thinking about Soft Architecture in 2018 when a racist interaction with a white friend made me think about how racism deconstructs and breaks my understanding of self. It also made me think about my grandparents, with no permanent residence. They lived in an RV, a transient box with no link to a specific location or time, yet they called it home. This led me to create my MobileHomes, through which I attempt to capture the materialization of “home.” Working at the intersection of architecture and garment, I suggest the shared foundational purpose of both mediums: to separate and protect its user from the outside environment. From this, I distilled my more generalized concept of Soft Architecture. Cubicle, inspired by my own burnout from my 9-5 job, critiques American productivity culture. It recreates the feeling of entrapment when working for a capitalist monopoly to survive. The headpiece is made from upcycled dress shirts and contains hidden headphones and an MP3 player that loops Stimulus Progression Muzak, a form of music that was created to increase human productivity. The progression starts below the average human heart rate and slowly increases in tempo to manipulate behavior, stimulating workers and making them more efficient throughout the day. Interactivity is core to my practice. Every wearable I create is accompanied by instructions to encourage public participation. I invite observers to relate to my experiences and challenge them to think about how my works’ themes manifest in their lives.”
Cubicle, 2022
“Cubicle, inspired by my own burnout and disillusionment with my 9-5 job and its lack of benefits and care for its workers, critiques American productivity culture. It recreates the feeling of entrapment when working for a capitalist monopoly to survive. The headpiece is made from upcycled dress shirts and contains hidden headphones and an MP3 player that loops Stimulus Progression Muzak, a form of music that was created to increase human productivity. A Stimulus Progression consists of 15-minute music segments followed by 30-second to 15-minute breaks of silence. This workplace Muzak starts below the average human heart rate and slowly increases in tempo to manipulate behavior, stimulating workers and making them more efficient throughout the day.”
About Isabella Kiser
Bella Kiser (she/her) is an interdisciplinary mixed-race Filipino-American artist from Chicago, IL currently based in Detroit, MI. She uses wearables, fibers, sculpture, performance, virtual reality, and sound, to build her world of Soft Architecture, which she defines as “a malleable and ever-changing building technique that is in constant exchange with memory. It is a fabritecture of susceptible surfaces formed from intangible experiences. Her work critiques American productivity culture, examines physical sensations associated with comfort/discomfort, and explores her identity and relationship with race, otherness, and home. Kiser received a BFA in Studio Art and a BS in Environmental Studies from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Combined Degree Program.
