As a new media, fiber, and installation artist, LadyK’s practice encompasses interactive and responsive systems exploring how our collective digital experiences are shaping our future. She merges ancient fiber traditions with programming and physical computing to create nervous systems for her handcrafted soft fiber structures. In her piece Memory Capsules, she felted cocoons, embedding custom electronics and mini-displays, to depict memories. A viewer’s soft breath activates the cocoons, triggering the memories. Yet this system, which was entrusted to protect memories, instead warps, degrades, and erases them. Liminal spaces brought forth by digital technologies fascinate her, as LadyK explores the cultural transformations that result. Her latest environments investigate how communication technologies are shaping our identity, pushing a tighter integration with the machine. LadyK is the recipient of numerous state and national grants, including the NYSCA, Ohio Arts Council and Puffin Foundation, among others. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Ars Electronica, ISEA, ZKM, Maryland Art Place, Indianapolis Art Center, Collar Works, The University of the Arts, the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, among others. Selected residencies include Harvestworks, Jentel, Weir Farm and Vermont Studio Center (full grant). Her work also appears in the Spring 2019 and 2020 issues of Fiber Arts Now. She teaches human-computer interaction design, programming, and physical computing at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering.
