What is fabrication?
In the coming months, vozarrón will focus on the exploration of arts fabrication through the eyes of our fabricators themselves. In this introductory installment, you’ll learn from Kiah Vidyarthi, our Director of Collaborative Production Operations, who shares insights into her career in the arts, how she defines “fabrication”, and where she sees it evolving through the purview of Powerhouse.
For Kiah, fabrication is the act of bringing a community together who possess skills that an artist needs to realize their vision. It is essentially a space that broadens capabilities that go beyond what the artist’s hands and experience allows.
What brought you to the world of fabrication?
In college, Kiah studied Studio Art and Photography. After graduating, she acquired as many skills across the field of art as possible. She pursued work in film, where she first identified the tactical advantage of small departments — a focus on hyper-specific work that came together as one large, cohesive production.
In her time in this industry, she oversaw the production of costume, set design, and prop-making, but fell in love with special effects, which allowed her to act as a “mad-scientist.” She was immersed in a surrealist fantasy world that required technical and analytical skills to mix chemicals and create anatomically-accurate costumes and sculptures. Eventually, she redirected her focus to freelance sculpture work in collaboration with individual artists.
She quickly learned that beyond offering artistic skills, this work required a unique emotional skill-set to cultivate relationships with artists to accurately interpret and materialize their visions. As a fabricator, learns to ask questions and develop a shared language so artists can communicate their desires, therefore allowing fabricators to execute the job effectively.
Fabricators don’t impose what they think should happen their thoughts on how an artwork should look. That vision belongs to the artist. A fabricator’s job is therefore to offer a keen sense of knowledge and experience on how materials work and how they fit together to execute on a project holistically.
Is there a space for fabricators to be credited? Do fabricators seek credit?
Today’s art industry maintains the art historical notion of the artist-as-genius. The idea of exposing relationships with fabricators and crediting collaborators accordingly breaks the illusion that an all-knowing super-artist did in fact produce all the work. The reality is that behind many artworks exists a community of people that were employed to execute ideas conceived by the artist. Unfortunately, there aren’t many spaces that celebrate this reality. The art industry commodifies the illusion of unseen labor. Kiah hopes we can get past this stigma to credit the people for their labor.
In any other market sectors, we don’t apply the same unrealistic expectations for studios or firms that materialize grand architectural projects, for instance, or develop multifaceted technology systems like those of Silicon Valley. We are aware that success in these sectors is a product of team coordination. Should we not also celebrate the work of the fabricators working as a team to bring dynamic and ambitious arts projects to fruition?
Kiah hopes that as an organization we are not afraid to normalize giving credit to fabricators. Most fabricators are in favor of having more credit and transparency. As an institution we hold significant regard for and see the power in the work that we do. Perhaps we at Powerhouse can begin to set a new precedent around the culture of fabrication.
By Angélica Maria Millán Lozano