Oíhaŋke Waníča (Infinity), 2023

Aug 16

Written By Kite .

Embroidery on velvet fabric, performance.

Image credit: Emmanuel Abreu

Performed at CARA NYC

This artwork lives and breathes while Kite sleeps in Ancram, NY. Each week, Kite will create a series of geometric designs that translate her dreams. The patterns draw from traditional Lakȟóta art-making where many designs and forms of bead-work use geometric renderings to communicate narratives and visions which are sometimes first encountered in dreams. Kite’s patterns, rooted in a rich history of creation and subconscious engagement, will then be translated through Lakota designer Sadie Red Wing's Lakota Shape Kit. This work imagines the embroidery machine as an artificial being transforming knowledge from the dream world into the visual language of the dreams and correspond the designs with Lakȟóta words. These cyborgian communications will lead to the production of embroidered textiles depicting the designs, and in turn a series of activating performances. The land of dreams, thus becomes fodder for a dialogue between individuals and a future of communally built cybernetic systems.

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.

Oíhaŋke Waníča (Infinity), 2023

In the Realm of Miracles, 2022

Iron Road, 2021