EXHIBITION
KITE: WAKPÁ IYÓŽAŊŽAŊ (RIVER OF LIGHT)
December 3 - 7, 2025
Untitled Art, Miami Beach | Booth SP14
Ocean Drive and 12th Street, Miami Beach, FL
Tulsa Artist Fellowship and Central Standard are pleased to announce the co-presentation of Wakpá Iyóžaŋžaŋ (River of Light), a major installation by artist Kite (Oglála Lakȟóta), within the 2025 Special Projects sector at Untitled Art, Miami Beach. Curated by Central Standard in partnership with Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the presentation underscores how Tulsa’s collaborative arts ecosystem is shaping bold new artistic perspectives and positioning Oklahoma as a hub for ambitious, cross-disciplinary practice. The 14th edition of the Untitled Art Miami Beach will be held December 3 through 7, 2025, with a VIP and Press Preview on December 2.
Wakpá Iyóžaŋžaŋ (River of Light) offers a profound exploration of Lakota cosmology, dream practices, and the transmission of Indigenous knowledge through technology, sound, and score-based forms. Rooted in the Lakota understanding of the Milky Way as a wakpá iyóžaŋžaŋ—a river of light that carries loved ones across the sky—the installation situates Lakota dream practices within the realm of contemporary art and performance.
The installation brings together three interconnected works: the tactile embroidered score Wichahpih’a (a clear night with a star-filled sky) (2019), a new sculptural installation Stone Score (River of Light) (2025) comprising black deer hide, mirror, and river stones; and Her Dream Becomes a River (2025), a video work that translates the score into gesture, sound, and light through violin and percussion. Rather than interpreting water as literal matter, Kite approaches the river as a conduit of memory, movement, light, and relation where dreams materialize through sound and stone. Through these works, Kite articulates a language of interconnection between body, land, and cosmos, demonstrating how Indigenous knowledge systems can shape contemporary forms of art, technology, and performance.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Suzanne Kite (Oglála Lakȟóta) is an artist, composer, and scholar whose work spans performance, sound, sculpture, and computational media to explore contemporary Lakȟóta ontologies, ethics, and relations with technology. She is Director of the Wíhaŋble S’a Center for Indigenous AI at Bard College—a National Endowment for the Humanities–designated Humanities Research Center and a pod of the Abundant Intelligences research program—where she serves as Distinguished Artist in Residence and Assistant Professor of American & Indigenous Studies.
Kite’s recent presentations include the 2024 Whitney Biennial: Even Better Than the Real Thing, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA, New York), and the 14th Shanghai Biennale: Cosmos Cinema; additional projects have appeared with NOME (Berlin), REDCAT (Los Angeles), and the Max Ernst Museum. Her practice includes machine-learning–informed performance interfaces, dream-derived sculptural systems, and collaborative research with family and community members.
Her writing has been published by the Journal of Design and Science (MIT Press) (“Making Kin with Machines”), Atlas of Anomalous AI, Indigenous Protocol and AI Position Paper, and other venues. Honors include the Ruth Award (Ruth Foundation for the Arts), United States Artists Fellowship (2023), Creative Capital (Wild Futures), Tulsa Artist Fellowship (2020-2022), a Creative Time commission (with Alisha B. Wormsley), and fellowships with Forge Project.
Kite holds degrees from the California Institute of the Arts and Bard College and earned her PhD at Concordia University. She is an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and lives and works in Catskill, NY.
Founded by curators Ashanti Chaplin and Lindsay Aveilhé, Central Standard is a contemporary art platform amplifying artistic voices from and through the lens of Middle America. Central Standard fosters experimentation and global artistic exchange through exhibitions, public programs, and site-responsive projects, positioning Tulsa as a dynamic hub for contemporary art.
Founded in 2012, Untitled Art is a leading contemporary art fair taking place annually on the sands of Miami Beach, and in 2025, it will expand to Houston. Guided by a mission to support the wider art ecosystem, Untitled Art offers an inclusive platform for discovering contemporary art that prioritizes collaboration within each aspect of the fair.
