Kite: Wógligleya/Imákȟaheye (Geometry/Method)

Experience Wógligleya/Imákȟaheye (Geometry/Method), a collaborative performance by multimedia artist and composer Kite with student musicians based in the Bay Area. The ensemble will compose a graphic music score, translating their personal dreams and experiences into experimental notation derived from dream symbolism and Lakȟóta visual language, a geometric lexicon traditionally used in Lakȟóta women’s quillwork. Using a custom machine learning interface developed by Kite, the artist will perform alongside the group of student musicians playing a diverse range of instruments, together interpreting and improvising their collectively composed score. Drawing upon Indigenous knowledge systems and semiotics, this dynamic performance brings together sound, movement, and kindred collaborations between humans and machines, inviting audiences to consider new ways of listening and knowing the world around us.

Performance collaborators: Tony Bullock, Heloise Marie Philippine Garry, Jay Hernandez, George Joseph Papajohn, Rochelle Tham, and Rowan Zhou.

About the Artist

Kite (aka Suzanne Kite; b. 1990, Sylmar, CA; lives and works in Catskill, NY) is an Oglála Lakȟóta artist, composer, and scholar known for her experimental sound, video, and performance works investigating contemporary Lakȟóta ontologies through research-creation and computational media. Her artworks and performances have recently been featured at the 2024 Whitney Biennial, New York; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Center for Art, Research and Alliances, New York; and the 2024 Shanghai Biennial; among other venues. Her awards and honors include a Ruth Award, a 2023 United States Artist Fellowship, a Creative Time open call commission (with Alisha Wormsley), and a Creative Capital grant. She is currently Director of Wihanble S’a Lab, Distinguished Artist in Residence, and Assistant Professor of American and Indigenous Studies at Bard College, and Codirector of Abundant Intelligences Research Program (SSHRC/NFRF). Kite holds degrees from California Institute of the Arts, Bard College, and Concordia University. She is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux tribe.
 

Kite: Wógligleya/Imákȟaheye (Geometry/Method) is part of Electric Movements, a performance series curated by Karen Cheung, interim assistant curator, media, technology, and culture. Performances are produced by Chloe Kwiatkowski, senior program specialist, public engagement; with Bella Mello, manager, public engagement.