Suzanne Kite, Wičháȟpi Wóihaŋbleya (Dreamlike Star), 2023, deer hide, 13-star forms, grommets, Wičhíŋčala Šakówiŋ (Seven Little Girls), 2023, mirror floor, LED lights, stones, site-specific installation.

Suzanne Kite (Oglála Lakȟóta), performance at the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre, (RedCat), 2024, photograph by Angelo Origgi.

Dreaming with AI features Dr. Suzanne Kite’s (aka “Kite”) (Oglála Lakȟóta) recent installation, performance, and video works, combining machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and Indigenous knowledge. Kite’s projects push boundaries formally and thematically and involve concepts that shape the future of contemporary Indigenous art. Her large installations Wičháȟpi Wóihaŋbleya (Dreamlike Star) and Wičhíŋčala Šakówiŋ (Seven Little Sisters), 2023, blend light, experimental sound, minerals, hide, and motion to explore Lakȟóta knowledge systems, cosmology, and their connection to contemporary technologies. 

As a Lakȟóta artist and researcher, Kite’s work is deeply embedded in Indigenous philosophies, using art to bridge cultural traditions and ancestral knowledge with contemporary forms of expression, often working in collaboration with family and community members. The title, Wičháȟpi Wóihaŋbleya, refers to a “dreamlike star” and speaks to Lakȟóta cosmology, where stars are not just celestial objects; they represent ancestors, guardians, and guiding forces. The dream-based aspects of many of her works suggest the connection between earthly existence and metaphysical realms, emphasizing the significance of dreams in Lakȟóta culture.

Wičháȟpi Wóihaŋbleya and other works include stones, minerals, and rare earth materials (often used in computers), illustrating that in Oglála Lakȟóta culture, these materials are not inanimate objects. Instead, they are living beings imbued with spirit and volition. Through her works, Kite also investigates how we can approach our relationships with AI and computer technologies more ethically.  

Accompanying the exhibition are hands-on AI stations, developed in collaboration with Bard College post-graduates, where visitors can learn about artificial intelligence and how Kite uses this technology to share Oglála Lakȟóta cultural knowledge and philosophy of life. 

Dr. Suzanne Kite’s (aka “Kite”) (Oglála Lakȟóta) is a performance artist, visual artist, and composer raised in Southern California, with a BFA from CalArts in music composition, an MFA from Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School, and a PhD in Fine Arts from Concordia University, Montreal. Kite’s scholarship and practice investigate contemporary Lakȟóta ontologies through research-creation, computational media, and performance. She has published the award-winning article “Making Kin with Machines in The Journal of Design and Science” (MIT Press). Kite is a 2023 Creative Capital Award Winner, 2023 USA Fellow, and a 2022–2023 Creative Time Open Call artist with Alisha B. Wormsley. She is Director of Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous Studies at Bard College and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux tribe. 

For more information, please contact IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) Curator of Collections Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer at tlomahaftewa-singer@iaia.edu.