Ínyan Iyé (Telling Rock), 2019

Jul 5

Written By Kite .

ÍŊYAŊ IYÉ (TELLING ROCK), KITE, DEVIN RONNEBERG, 2019. TRANSLATION BY ALEX FIRETHUNDER.

SONG, POWER, SOUND, PROCESSORS, MACHINE LEARNING DECISIONS, HANDMADE CIRCUITRY, GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, ALUMINUM, SILICON, FIBERGLASS

As Ínyan Iyé speaks, listeners may respond to it by bending and moving its braids, affecting the sounds. This sculpture interrogates the relationships between human and non-human entities and intelligences. Through Oglala Lakota ontologies, even materials such as metals, rocks, and minerals can communicate of their own volition. By considering the 'hearing' and 'listening' capabilities of nonhuman entities, a method of engagement reliant upon mutual respect and responsibility becomes possible. Íŋyaŋ Iyé speaks, you respond to it by bending and moving its braids, effecting the sounds it makes. Íŋyaŋ Iyé listens to the changes in its own voice and generates a response in lights and sound.

People listen close, I whisper

The rock speaks beyond hearing

People listen close, I whisper

Hear me, I have something to say

Only to those who listen

Hear me, I have something to say

Many nations speaking

We speak to each other without words

Many nations speaking

I am always speaking

You watch but hear nothing

I am always speaking

Oyáte, taŋyáŋ anáǧoptaŋ po! Očhížipi.

Oyáte, taŋyáŋ anáǧoptaŋ po!

Očhížipi. Íŋyaŋ iyé kiŋ naȟ’úŋ-phiča šni.

Oyáte, taŋyáŋ anáǧoptaŋ po! Očhížipi.

Táku waŋ epȟíŋ kta čha namáȟ’uŋ po!

Anáǧoptaŋpi kiŋ hená ečéla namáȟ’uŋpi kte.

Táku waŋ epȟíŋ kta čha namáȟ’uŋ po!

Oyáte óta iyápi.

Wóiye čhóla iyápi.

Oyáte óta iyápi.

Iwáye s’a.

Waŋlákapi éyaš tákuni nayáȟ’uŋpi šni.

Iwáye s’a.

Image credit to the Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts

Kite .

Kite (Dr. Suzanne Kite) is an Oglála Lakȟóta performance artist, visual artist, and composer raised in Southern California, with a BFA from CalArts in music composition,and an MFA from Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School, and a Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Concordia University, Montreal. Kite’s scholarship and practice investigate contemporary Lakȟóta ontologies through research-creation, computational media, and performance, often working in collaboration with family and community members. Recently, Kite has been developing body interfaces for machine learning driven performance and sculptures generated by dreams, and experimental sound and video work. Kite has published in The Journal of Design and Science (MIT Press), with the award winning article, “Making Kin with Machines,” co-authored with Jason Lewis, Noelani Arista, and Archer Pechawis. Kite is currently a 2023 Creative Capital Award Winner, 2023 USA Fellow, and a 2022-2023 Creative Time Open Call artist with Alisha B. Wormsley. Kite is currently Distinguished Artist in Residence and Assistant Professor of American and Indigenous Studies, Bard College and a Research Associate and Residency Coordinator for the Abundant Intelligences (Indigenous AI) project.

Ínyan Iyé (Telling Rock), 2019

ÍŊYAŊ IYÉ (TELLING ROCK), KITE, DEVIN RONNEBERG, 2019. TRANSLATION BY ALEX FIRETHUNDER.

SONG, POWER, SOUND, PROCESSORS, MACHINE LEARNING DECISIONS, HANDMADE CIRCUITRY, GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, ALUMINUM, SILICON, FIBERGLASS

Oíhaŋbleta (In a Dream), 2023

Pȟehíŋ kiŋ líla akhíšoke. (Her hair was heavy.) (2019)