Telling Rock (Inyan Iye)

New Media Installation

Devin Ronneberg + Suzanne Kite | 2020

Iŋyaŋ Iyé (Telling Rock) is an interactive sculpture that interrogates the relationships between human and non-human entities. As Inyan Iyé speaks, listeners may respond to it by bending and moving its braids, affecting sounds and influencing the lights via custom sensor packages embedded in the braids. The AI embedded within the sculpture “listens” to these changes and makes its own decisions that further effect the lights and sounds. Through Oglála Lakȟóta ontologies, even materials such as metals, rocks, and minerals can communicate of their own volition. By considering the 'hearing' and 'listening' capabilities of nonhuman entities, a method of engagement reliant upon mutual respect and responsibility becomes possible. ​

Featured on the cover of Frequencies the Spring 2021 issue of Canadian Art Magazine.
Telling Rock has been featured at multiple museums, galleries, and festivals including Experimenta: Lifeforms, MacKenzie Art Gallery, The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, MoCNA, and imagineNative.