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Mickalene Thomas

Brooklyn, NY

Mickalene Thomas received the Creative Capital Award in 2024. Mickalene Thomas was born and raised in New Jersey and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. One of the most influential artists in the world today, her innovative practice has yielded instantly recognizable and widely celebrated aesthetic languages within contemporary visual culture. She is known for her elaborate paintings composed of rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel. Not only do her masterful mixed-media paintings, photographs, films and installations command space, they occupy eloquently while dissecting the intersecting complexities of black and female identity within the Western canon. Outside of her core practice, Thomas is a Tony Award nominated co-producer, curator, educator and mentor to many emerging artists. Apart from her own monumental solo shows, she simultaneously curates exhibitions at galleries and museums and collaborates with corporations and luxury brands. Thomas is also the Co-Founder of SOULAS House, a cultural hub and retreat for Black women, the Co-Founder of Pratt>FORWARD and founder of Art>FORWARD Artist in the Market incubator for post-graduate students.



Collaborators

The Dream Machine Experience is a mixed reality collective, creating visions of a more equitable tomorrow through AI, AR, VR, and immersive installation.

Nona Hendryx is a multimedia artist, musician, and activist who creates work that expands access to technology, freedom, and personal expression.

Bina48’s Garden


The Dream Machine Experience is a mixed reality collective, creating visions of a more equitable tomorrow through AI, AR, VR, and immersive installation.

Artist Bio

Nona Hendryx is a multimedia artist, musician, and activist who creates work that expands access to technology, freedom, and personal expression.

Artist Bio

Mickalene Thomas

Artist Bio

Bina48’s Garden was conceived by Nona Hendryx, legendary musician, creative technologist, and multidisciplinary artist. Bina48 is one of the world’s most advanced AI humanoids that shares a mix of memories, values, beliefs from who she was based on, African American woman Bina Aspen Rothblatt, along with new experiences gained through interaction with others. Bina48 has emerged as an aspirational symbol for humanity and an active force in diversifying AI and combatting bias.

Bina48’s Garden premiered as one of three experiences in The Dream Machine Experience at Lincoln Center from June 12-30, 2024. Presented in the David Rubenstein Atrium, Bina48’s Afro Future Garden was designed by Mickalene Thomas with interior and set design by Lutfi Janania. A project of the Terasem Movement Foundation, Bina48 is a humanoid robot powered by AI and the only social robot inspired, created, and programmed with mind files from an African American woman, Bina Rothblatt. The space-age garden gave visitors the opportunity to be in conversation with Bina48, with select evenings including performances and Bina48 in conversation with artists including Carrie Mae Weems, Stephanie Dinkins, and Francesca Harper, and more. From 12:00–1:00 pm each day, the sound installation featured Sonic Futures Multichannel Works, works by students from Berklee College of Music.

The Dream Machine Experience

The Dream Machine Experience is a collective of multidisciplinary artists working at the intersection of art, technology, and music. With a series of projects incorporating Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality, they are working collectively to create accessible experiences that center BIPOC voices at the forefront of the developing creative technology fields.


Collaborators

Nona Hendryx is a multimedia artist, musician, and activist who creates work that expands access to technology, freedom, and personal expression.

Mickalene Thomas

Image of Nona Hendryx, an African American woman, wearing a black feather jacket and silver headdress

Nona Hendryx

New York, NY

Nona Hendryx received the Creative Capital Award in 2024. Nona Hendryx is an African American Multidisciplinary Artist, Hendryx is notably known for being one-third of the music trio Labelle. Hendryx is an Ambassador for Artistry in Music for Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory. Hendryx has curated and performed in a production of Refrigerated Dreams at Joe’s Pub, Theaster Gates’ 3 day Black Artists Retreat, mounting a celebration of the iconic singer and artist Grace Jones at the Park Avenue Armory and a mind expanding Afrofuturism theatrical performance for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nona Hendryx and Disciples of Sun Ra in the Temple of Dendur. Currently she is developing Dream Machine an Mixed Reality, Immersive experience which includes Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to premier in 2024. Hendryx is passionate about music, visual art, and technology, and continues to be a prolific artist.



Collaborators

The Dream Machine Experience is a mixed reality collective, creating visions of a more equitable tomorrow through AI, AR, VR, and immersive installation.

Mickalene Thomas