Harken — A Performance at Onassis ONX
- Anna Lilli Garai
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
Location: Onassis ONX, New York
Date: January 17–18, 2026
Project: Performance and salon presentation as part of Under the Radar’s Under Construction program
Why it Matters: A new stage work using AI to rethink historical memory
Modesto “Flako” Jimenez presents ¡Harken! at Onassis ONX in Tribeca as part of Under the Radar’s Under Construction program. Developed with Media Art Xploration and ¡Oye! Group, the work uses generative AI to explore the fragmented historical record around Juan Rodriguez, a mixed-race Atlantic Creole who arrived in New York from Santo Domingo in 1613 and is considered one of the city’s earliest non-Indigenous settlers.
The performance invites the audience into an active role. Through live interaction with AI systems, participants help reconstruct and question how histories are formed, remembered, and distorted over time. The piece moves between storytelling, technology, and performance, treating the stage as a space where archival gaps, personal memory, and collective imagination intersect.
¡Harken! is accompanied by Collaboration as Resistance, a salon-style conversation bringing together the artist, collaborators, and audiences to discuss process, context, and the role of AI in contemporary artistic practice. Together, the performance and discussion position the project within a broader reflection on identity, authorship, and the tools now shaping how stories are told.
More info: https://www.onx.studio/
