Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde
ARTISTIC STATEMENTI reclaim spaces for underrepresented communities with the use of technology, ritual and the speculative. Whether it be a citizen “sousveillance” suit to monitor police activity, a Techno-Shamanistic religion that virtually renders ritual, or archeological artifacts from future African cultures, I find it imperative to work collaboratively with other artists and local communities.
My work is about problematizing relationships between physical, spiritual, and virtual spaces as a form of critique. As well as being technologically functional and uncanny, my works are educational and community driven. The contemplation of differences between the present and the speculated future or past create opportunities to effect social change; it is within this space that my works evoke constructive dialog.
The works themselves exist between physical and digital spaces; across the past, present and future. They ask us, through technology, to reimagine notions of race, identity, politics and culture as they travel through time and space.
BIO
Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde (ayo) is a Nigerian-American artist, designer, and time-traveler living and working in New York. He studied Visual Arts and Philosophy at Rutgers the State University of New Jersey where he earned his B.A. His works range from painting and speculative design to physically interactive works, wearable technology and explorations of “Reclamation”. Okunseinde was the co-founder and creative director of Dissident Display Studios, an award winning studio and art gallery based in Washington DC. As a collaborator with, amongst others, choreographer Maida Withers, Carmen Wong, and Yoko K., Okunseinde has created several interactive performance based works and has performed in several countries including Mexico, Finland, and Croatia. His art residency participation includes ITP’s S.I.R., IDEO’s Fortnight, The Laundromat Project, Eyebeam, New INC, and Recess Assembly. He has exhibited and presented at the 11th Shanghai Biennale, Tribeca Storyscapes, EYEO Festival, Brooklyn Museum, M.I.T. Beyond the Cradle, and Afrotectopia amongst others. His works themselves exist between physical and digital spaces; across the past, present and future. They ask us, through technology, to reimagine notions of race, identity, politics and culture as they travel through time and space. Okunseinde has taught at New York University, Bennington College, Hostos CUNY and 92Y. He holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design in New York where he is currently an adjunct faculty member.
