Michelle Sylvestre (elle) détient un baccalauréat (2017) et une maîtrise en beaux-arts (nouveaux médias, 2021). Elle est artiste interdisciplinaire et étudiante au doctorat dans le programme de pensée culturelle, sociale et politique à l’Université de Lethbridge, située sur le territoire du traité 7 (Alberta). À la maîtrise, elle a bénéficié d’une bourse du CRSH, de la bourse d’études supérieures de la reine Elizabeth II et de la bourse d’études du doyen pour l’excellence en recherche.
Sa recherche de doctorat porte sur les préjugés systémiques à l’égard du genre et des Autochtones en matière d’intelligence artificielle (IA). Michelle utilise la recherche-création pour combiner l’enquête critique et la pratique artistique afin d’aborder des questions socioculturelles complexes et de promouvoir l’équité et l’inclusion dans le développement technologique.
Michelle a codirigé la conférence et l’atelier multidisciplinaire « AI : Worlding and Wilding », qui a permis d’orienter les étudiants de divers cycles universitaires vers la recherche-création. Cette initiative a favorisé la collaboration interdisciplinaire et l’engagement critique, influençant le travail universitaire et créatif des participants. Elle entamera une nouvelle version de ces ateliers dans le cadre de son travail de recherche-création et en tant que membre du groupe d’étude Niitsitapi sur l’abondance de l’intelligence (Université de Lethbridge).
En tant qu’artiste d’exposition et d’art public, Michelle explore les thèmes de l’identité et de la communauté à travers la technologie, la sculpture et la performance. Elle considère cette bourse comme l’occasion de transformer les relations avec l’aide des acteurs du changement, de faire progresser ses recherches interdisciplinaires et de contribuer à la résolution d’importants défis mondiaux, en particulier dans la construction collaborative de cadres d’IA plus inclusifs.
Soundscape & FLUX: Notes from the Niitsitapi Pod
2026
With an introduction by Leory Little Bear and Amethyst First Rider, the Indigenous-led Niitsitapi Pod artists and scholars write about their utility of artificial intelligence (AI) for Indigenous communities. The notion of abundant intelligence is offered as a counter to artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence defines technologies which are often unsustainable, extractive, and inequitable, systems based on non-Indigenous frameworks, biased toward the benefit and access of non-Indigenous people and entities. The ongoing work of the Abundant Intelligence network seeks to acknowledge the multitudes of ancient and active Indigenous knowledge systems and technologies that for millennia have been used in pattern recognition, archive retrieval, and mediation of sentience.
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Alberta Foundation for the Arts Visual Arts and New Media Individual Project Funding
2026
This funding supports Kara Sloan and Michelle Sylvestre's art practice and artist residencies for their upcoming exhibition "Tangible Fragments" Sept. 2026. This exhibition explores the complex, often ambiguous nature of care, connection, and memory through the juxtaposition of two primary materials: ceramic and felted wool. These materials symbolize the duality of familiarity and fragility, strength and softness, creating a sensory dialogue between permanence and impermanence. Their work delves into the embodied experience of care and connection. Using abstract, indefinite forms they focus more on the intimate, messy and imperfect aspects of these experiences apart from the often flattening idealistic moralities commonly attached to them.
University of Lethbridge Graduate Research Award (ULGRA)
2024-2028
The candidate has demonstrated outstanding research ability/potential by providing contributions to the field. The candidate has demonstrated excellent leadership skills, for example through substantial and sustained contributions to mentorship of students, active role in academic life, or outreach.
Medalta Artist in Residency
July 2026
In this month long residency, Michelle will be focusing on her ceramic sculptures for her exhibition "Tangible Fragments"
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Visual Art Live Performance: A.I.P.I. Following the Breadcrumbs
January 2026
A.I.P.I.: Following the Breadcrumbs is a live visual art performance by Michelle Sylvestre. Grounded in a methodology of relationality, the performance brings together narrative, humour, and audience participation to explore relationships between artificial intelligence, water, knowledge, and accountability as A.I.P.I. (Artificial Intelligence Private Investigator). Set within the milieu of film noir, the work unfolds as an open-ended investigation, inviting audiences to follow the breadcrumbs to consider how meaning and responsibility are produced through systems of relation.
Artist Talk
December 2025
Art NOW series featuring Amethyst First Rider and Michelle Sylvestre
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Exhibition: Abundant Memory, Relational Intelligence
October 17, 2025 – January 23, 2026
Dr. Margaret (Marmie) Perkins Hess Gallery Abundant Memory, Relational Intelligence features the creative outcomes of two years of interdisciplinary experimentation as part of the Abundant Intelligences research program. Artists share their artwork including virtual environments, quillwork, performance art, game design, painting, sound works, architectural design, and interactive technologies. The exhibition features artwork from Serene Weasel Traveller’s recently completed MFA.
The Niitsitapi Pod artists work collaboratively with Elders, students, mentors, faculty, and community members, centering collective research practices and relational processes over individualistic modes of project design. Through this approach, projects are shaped by the relational experiences and community dialogue which surround their making. Led by Amethyst First Rider and Leroy Little Bear, the Niitsitapi Pod is one of five research pods which make up Abundant Intelligences, an Indigenous-led research program that conceptualizes, designs, develops, and deploys AI based on Indigenous Knowledge systems. Through creative innovations with virtual materials, knowledge systems, and emergent technologies, Abundant Memory, Relational Intelligence honours the generational intelligence that exist within Niitsitapi culture and language.
This exhibition draws upon research supported by the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Artists:
Serene Weasel Traveller
Amethyst First Rider
Nayan Velaskar
Michelle Sylvestre
Blair Many Fingers
Walker English
Darby Herman
Kaiya Healy
Payne Many Guns
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