Introducing Catherine A. Lie (
@century.late ) - the Lead Spatial Architect & inaugural RAFT fellow at
@studionkisi , ft. snapshots from our second site visit with
@institutoarquitetosdafavela in Andaraí, Rio de Janeiro 🇧🇷 (for a forthcoming collaboration we can’t share all the details for yet, but are excited to be able to soon!)
To quote the otherworldly brilliant cover letter she submitted for the RAFT program:
“[Growing up in postcolonial Indonesia] taught me to read architecture as a living archive, [and] shaped my understanding of commoning as the convergence of philosophy and practice: designing with and alongside human, non-human, and more-than-human systems, while amplifying oft-repressed (invisible) forces that sustain built environments through care, ritual, and adaptation - resonating deeply with Afropresentism’s emphasis on response•ability within our present; architecture as a living condition shaped through collective stewardship.
Trained architecturally at MIT, my transmedia practice now operates across spatial research, environmental design, and artistic inquiry, often rendered through site-specific participatory workshops, installations, oral histories, and experimental pedagogies. Across these modes, I’m interested in how architectural thinking can trespass Western institutional frameworks and translate culturally into accessible, embodied languages of practice.”
Catherine’s M.Arch thesis, sourdough architecture, has evolved over the past 7 years into a transcontinental research pilgrimage distributing sourdough starter and breaking bread across East & West Africa, the Mediterranean, Central & now South America.
“Sourdough architecture explores how everyday practices—wild-yeast fermentation, baking, feeding, tending, and sharing—can function as relational technologies for understanding time, space, and collective worldbuilding. Through bread-making and place-making workshops, the project studies how diverse communities carrying ecological knowledge, memory, and care practices come together through everyday acts of making and sharing.”
![Introducing Catherine A. Lie (@century.late) - the Lead Spatial Architect & inaugural RAFT fellow at @studionkisi, ft. snapshots from our second site visit with @institutoarquitetosdafavela in Andaraí, Rio de Janeiro (for a forthcoming collaboration we can’t share all the details for yet, but are excited to be able to soon!)To quote the otherworldly brilliant cover letter she submitted for the RAFT program:“[Growing up in postcolonial Indonesia] taught me to read architecture as a living archive, [and] shaped my understanding of commoning as the convergence of philosophy and practice: designing with and alongside human, non-human, and more-than-human systems, while amplifying oft-repressed (invisible) forces that sustain built environments through care, ritual, and adaptation - resonating deeply with Afropresentism’s emphasis on response•ability within our present; architecture as a living condition shaped through collective stewardship.Trained architecturally at MIT, my transmedia practice now operates across spatial research, environmental design, and artistic inquiry, often rendered through site-specific participatory workshops, installations, oral histories, and experimental pedagogies. Across these modes, I’m interested in how architectural thinking can trespass Western institutional frameworks and translate culturally into accessible, embodied languages of practice.”Catherine’s M.Arch thesis, sourdough architecture, has evolved over the past 7 years into a transcontinental research pilgrimage distributing sourdough starter and breaking bread across East & West Africa, the Mediterranean, Central & now South America.“Sourdough architecture explores how everyday practices—wild-yeast fermentation, baking, feeding, tending, and sharing—can function as relational technologies for understanding time, space, and collective worldbuilding. Through bread-making and place-making workshops, the project studies how diverse communities carrying ecological knowledge, memory, and care practices come together through everyday acts of making and sharing.”](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6747106116185467331410_0_d661fe769a1922026645933fbbb6329e.jpg?o=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&h=bc620c2d82b78f5acf77063253610989)
![THE KISII-KUNDIAWA BRIDGE • Afropresentist Technologies for Finding Your Way Home [7 Sept 7 Dec 2025] ~ Directed•By Neema Sïphone (@datahealing – neema@nkisi.studio) in ever-unfolding call&response* with kin+comrades ...& heeding the call to attend to our response•abilities at large]*• An Afropresentist technofossil experimenting with testimony as (silence+ craft)*, coming•together as pt.1 of a recursive*, durationally•(re)developing* film.• Droned [by @blackbillygoat], styled [@maahleek + Lynda + Neema], produced [Mommy Boss + Neema] & creative directed [Everyone Present + the sum of our ancestors] improvisationally* on location, in the highlands of Papua New Guinea as part of the inaugural Nkisi Research•Netting Group for #transmediale2026. This technofossil was edited by (@datahealing) in one 7-hour long sitting* in Nairobi, Kenya; informed by the experiences and engagements from within & beyond the third Nkisi Netting Group [Wairimũ Nduba @astoldbytsige @shomadjozi @rharha_nembhard @puntojpgs @digitalafrican @g.a.m.s.a @k.hailesilassie Catherine Lie @blackbillygoat + @bamichic_ ] in Lamu Island and Watamu, Kenya.[[“Siphone”, in Sheng - the creolized dialect of Kiswahili that is endemic to Nairobi - translates to “[I’m] not a Phone}}* The fossil/shell•terminal [4 minerals to be well-sheltered, too] is dedicated to all of the people who have taught me about the art of praying-through-doing (namely the Baye Fall & @rharha_nembhard - who is the Head (+ Post-Gender Womb) Ritual Architect for transmediale 2026), and my prayer is that it may reach the many more for whom this art of prayerful•making could provide refuge - if and when (and as soon•as) it is most necessary.[* = indicates a clue towards shared/invited Afropresentist + Futura•Tropica tech•styles / #methods /#protocols / #praxis / #mythology] ~ ️• Initial credits below/at the @datahealing #LinkInBiome most robust citation can/will be found from 28 Jan - 1 February at transmediale 2026: by the mango belt & tamarind road in all of its (re•de)*distributed zones. Tickets are available on the transmediale website. See you there ~ x](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6729114457514149162366_0_add4df1f4a3783f818d903db9692d839.jpg?o=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&h=bd2b7712206cf7584028b53351d9aa83)
![‘On Exile, Amulets and Circadian Rhythms: Practicing Data Healing Across Timezones - In Conversation: Ethel-Ruth Tawe and Neema Githere’ 5 Nov 25 @apria_journal “EXHAUSTION” Issue [Excerpted]“Ethel: There’s somewhat of a parasocial glitch. Something about these relations really blur the lines and require us to formulate new modes of compassion that move us away from swipe-culture. What ways are you staying grounded or protecting yourself from the noise and interference?Neema: Let me show you. Here’s a white candle for peace and a sculpture from Burkina Faso. This is a large cowrie shell I got from Fiji, and another hi-frequency radio that I was gifted by Jpgs (@puntojpgs), my co-curator for Transmediale. I have multiple alternate internet systems. I have a flip phone, and I have this book about the mythology around Saturn. I don’t play about my protocols. I can’t afford to play about them because that’s what keeps me in balance.One thing that frustrates me is when people hear the ‘healing’ in data healing and assume that it’s something soft or frivolous. No, cybersecurity is a part of data healing. Encryption is a part of data healing. Divestment but also strategic investments and participation are part of data healing. I think of them as responsive frameworks to data trauma. What is the practical reality of our quotidian engagements as semi-cybernetic people?“](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6720703916552867453663_0_b5737a6ac43e5bc0f226ced6c6542c55.jpg?o=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&h=62457d8f30dc83e2931a2ec5ed6845d5)
