Isabella Koen

Isabella Koen is an American electronic musician, DJ, composer, visual artist, and educator based in Providence, Rhode Island. She has released music on multiple international record labels including Peder Mannerfelt Produktions, iDEAL Records, Mama Told Ya, Osare Editions, and Börft. Koen’s music draws from the industrial, drum and bass, trance, rave, hardcore, and techno genres. Koen has toured Europe and the U.S., including performances at Norbergfestival, Strom Festival, and Draaimolen Festival. She is currently a professor in the Electronic Music Production and Design department at Berklee College of Music, where she teaches courses in musicology, performance, and electronic music production.
==Musical Career==
Koen releases music under her own name, both in full and by first name only. She uses the profile name “networkerror” on both her Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Koen has been featured on numerous DJ mixes/live sets in collaboration with various artists, including Miley Serious and E-Saggila. She was profiled on djmag.com as one of “12 emerging artists you need to hear this February” in 2019.
Koen has released several albums, including Melody Depleted, Tip, Stimuli, and Rodeo Sound. Her use of multiple electronic music genres on her debut album Melody Depleted was described as having “transpose[d] a sense of pre-millennial late ‘90s techno warehouse dread into a world dealing with its own register of worries”. Koen is a self-proclaimed “hardware gal” and in performance uses various electronic synthesizers including the Elektron Octatrack mk1, Elektron Rytm mk2, and the Access Virus C. In 2022, she was a featured artist on Herrensauna vol. 2, a compilation album of global electronic musicians. Koen’s fast-paced techno track on the album, “Stunt,” is described as “demonic”. The album was released by the Berlin-based Herrensauna club and record label, which is renowned for their dance parties.
Koen has toured major American cities extensively as a performer including: New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Koen is known for her involvement in the underground Electronic Dance Music circuit. In 2022, she presented a live set titled “Glaze” at the Fridman Gallery’s Radial series in New York City alongside artist Afrikan Sciences (Eric Douglas Porter) and an NTS Live performance with Felisha Ledesma. Additional collaborative work includes Koen's Where‘s My Cat (Isabella Koen Purr Remix) remix, which was featured on Julia Govor's 2023 album The Bastet Mission Remixes.
Koen’s work as an electronic musician has been featured in Fact Magazine (i.e. Patch Notes article). Her performance and production explores the intersection of technology and music, particularly in relation to electronic and experimental music. Her work is recognized for its interdisciplinary approach and its ability to connect historical and contemporary musical practices. Her performance with the Fridman Gallery investigated multiple genres of electronica to reflect “a desire to bring forth the practices and sounds that inform that spectrum of choices as well as inspire her live performances and private reflective listening,” and “the importance of experimentation within one's practice." At Berklee College of Music, Koen’s courses focus on production techniques in Ableton, hardware performance and performing with effects.
==Education==
In 2019, Koen completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fiber, Textile and Weaving Art from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design She received both Academic Honors, as well as Liberal Arts and History of Art Honors.
Isabella Koen is largely a self-taught musician who has experience playing traditional musical instruments, gathering field recordings, creating her own "sound makers" out of found materials, and using electronic music hardware and software.
==Social Activism and Personal Life==
Koen has worked with Bikes Not Bombs, a non-profit organization geared toward increasing social mobility for marginalized youth through hands-on training pertaining to bicycle mechanics. She served as a Director of Service and Education. She was also on staff at the bicycle shop in 2011. Bikes Not Bombs is located in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
While at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Koen was a facilitator for the "Anti-Racist Dialogue Group Project".
Isabella Koen is married to artist Jesse Kaminsky. They reside in Providence, Rhode Island. Koen grew up in a family of musicians who are supportive of her artistic pursuits. 
==Other Notable Work==
In 2015, Isabella Koen worked with Providence, Rhode Island-based multi-media artist Jesse Kaminsky on a project entitled: Touch This. This public art installation was in collaboration with ILLUMINUSboston and the Rhode Island School of Design. Touch This was installed under a portion of bleachers at Fenway Park, and consists of projected video, tin foil, and heavily altered pop music samples. It was designed to be a multi-sensory, immersive experience.
In 2019, Koen continued work with Jesse Kaminsky, as well as JoAnn Kaminsky, Hank Kaminsky, Daniel Kaminsky, and Damir Porobic in relation to an exhibit titled Kaminsky Family Show at the Fenix Gallery in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The exhibit explored concepts pertaining to both family and home.
Category:American people
Category:Electronic musicians
Category:DJs
Category:Composers
Category:Visual artists
Category:Educators