Tȟaŋmáhel

Tȟaŋmáhel

Sept. 28 | 7 p.m.
Te Ata Theater

Kite composed a ‘visual score’ — a form of experimental music notation — made of symbolic forms that performers and musicians could read and interpret. Deriving ideologies from traditional Lakȟóta artmaking, as seen in their quillwork and beadwork, these processes of visual score-reading were reflected in their geometric designs and translated from the aftermath of a waking or sleeping dream. These designs communicated concepts without verbal language, becoming a semiotic language – a vocabulary of symbols that do not require explanation. Like stories, their meaning changes and develops over a lifetime, no longer confined to their original interpretation. Creating a dream narrative from a collection of visions re-enacted through videos, Tȟaŋmáhel assigned visions to symbols and wove a complete graphic score into being.

Tȟaŋmáhel was presented in connection with ArtNow: The Soul Is a Wanderer, on view in the Eleanor Kirkpatrick Main Gallery.

For box office support, email boxoffice@okcontemp.org or call 405 951 0000 during business hours.

About the Creator

Kite (Dr. Suzanne Kite) is an Oglála Lakȟóta performance artist, visual artist and composer raised in Southern California. Kite holds a B.F.A. from CalArts in music composition, an M.F.A. 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 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 at Bard College and a Research Associate and Residency Coordinator for the Abundant Intelligences (Indigenous AI) project.