In the Spring of 2024, the List Visual Arts Center proudly presents the first solo US exhibition of Hana Miletić, an artist whose textile work intricately explores the concept of “Soft Services” within our daily environments. While “soft services” often refers to the behind-the-scenes labor that ensures comfort and functionality in spaces, Miletić’s art brings this concept to the forefront, revealing its subtle yet profound presence in urban life.
Since 2015, Zagreb-born Miletić has dedicated herself to hand-produced textiles, creating ongoing series that delve into the essence of “soft services” through texture, community, and the act of care. Her Felt Workshops series exemplifies this approach. These shaggy, vibrant wool pieces are not merely artworks; they are the tangible outcome of a community-based social practice. Miletić collaborates with first-generation immigrant women in Brussels, her home since the 1990s, to collectively felt the wool. This process itself mirrors the collaborative and community-focused nature of many “soft services,” emphasizing teamwork and shared effort in creating something meaningful and comforting.
Miletić’s Materials series further refines her exploration of “soft services” by focusing on the unsung acts of urban maintenance and repair. These delicate, brightly colored weavings, created on a vintage 1970s loom, are born from her street photography. Trained as a photographer, Miletić captures snapshots of temporary repairs in public spaces – those ad-hoc solutions like tape on a car door or netting around a tree. These repairs, often overlooked, are the very embodiment of “soft services” in the urban environment: responsive, caring interventions that maintain the city’s functionality and aesthetic.
Although her source photographs remain unexhibited, they serve as templates for her seemingly abstract textile pieces. The Materials series faithfully translates the colors and forms of these photographed repairs into woven art. Miletić’s interest in these fleeting interventions stems from her understanding that they reveal “developments affecting the cities’ communities” and act as “subjective gestures of care.” This perspective aligns perfectly with the essence of “soft services,” which are fundamentally about providing care and maintaining well-being within a system. Her meticulous, time-consuming hand weaving process to document these ephemeral repairs mirrors this ethos of care. It introduces a slowness and material intimacy that she found lacking in photography, emphasizing the human touch inherent in both her art and the “soft services” she subtly observes.
Across her diverse series, Miletić also draws attention to the gendered associations of textile craft. She subtly connects historically undervalued labor, such as the traditional “women’s work” of weaving, to broader narratives of social and economic struggle and the larger political forces that shape them. This adds another layer to her exploration of “soft services,” highlighting how these roles are often feminized and underappreciated, despite their crucial contribution to the fabric of society.
The Hana Miletić exhibition, organized by Assistant Curator Selby Nimrod, invites viewers to reconsider the concept of “soft services.” Through her intricate textiles, Miletić prompts us to recognize and appreciate the often-invisible acts of care, maintenance, and community building that are essential to our urban experience. Her work beautifully weaves together art and the everyday reality of “soft services,” revealing their shared reliance on human touch, attention to detail, and a commitment to enhancing the spaces we inhabit.
Hana Miletić (b. 1982, Zagreb, Croatia) lives and works in Brussels. Her recent solo exhibitions include Kunsthalle Mainz, Germany (2023); Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka; MUDAM Luxembourg (2022); Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2021); and WIELS, Brussels (2018). Her work has been featured in Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka (2023); Manifesta 14, Prishtina (2022); and the 13th Sharjah Biennial (2017), and in group exhibitions at institutions such as Antenna Space, Shanghai; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb. In 2021, Miletić received the Baloise Art Prize, further solidifying her position as a significant voice in contemporary art exploring themes relevant to our understanding of “soft services” and their impact on society.
