Mastering Illusion with Vita Kari
- Kaitlin Owens
- Apr 10
- 3 min read
The craziest thing about being creative is….
Vita Kari is most commonly known for their viral TikTok videos featuring creative illusions. You’d probably recognize their intro: “The craziest thing about being creative is…” they’d say toward the camera before ripping away a piece of paper from the viewer’s sightline. “This isn’t even a staircase; I just printed it out.”
Kari follows in a long line of out-of-the-box performance artists. Their pieces are more whimsical than those of Abramovic, but more conscientious of the internet’s perspective than, say, Dora Garcia (whose work is most appreciable in person). One of Kari’s more recent works, performed outside Art Basel in Miami, involved Kari being trapped in a giant can, shrieking and screaming for help as onlookers poured water on the artist’s head through a plexiglass window.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Vita Kari describes themselves as a lifelong creative. “I actually started out with music funnily enough [...] eventually, I got more interested in art and really carved out a space for myself there.”
Kari has done collaborations with some pretty high-profile clients. To promote Tory Burch’s SS25 ready-to-wear collection, the brand commissioned Kari to craft a miniature wardrobe that housed a tiny version of the runway show and a TB gift card. Fans then went on a scavenger hunt through New York to find the miniature.
“I just love minis!” Kari said while recounting the experience. “I have some more minis in the works. I can’t talk about it too much yet, but I’m really excited to share some big minis [laughing] coming soon!”
For Loewe, Kari recreated a version of their “Virality as Form: The Craziest Thing About Being Creative is…” TikTok using the Fall 2023 Petal Brush heels as a makeup brush. Then, for Marc Jacobs, Kari did pretty much the same video template again — just using the MJ Nano Charm bag.
Kari views themselves as a performance artist first, influencer second. “Let’s be honest here,” Kari began, “performance art makes absolutely no money. It’s really important to me to always compensate my assistants and anyone else who helps me put together my pieces. That’s a top priority for me. So the influencer stuff, the brand deals and collaborations, those are so, so important to keeping these projects running.”
Kari’s performances are incredibly intricate, pre-planned events that somehow still feel electric and spontaneous. Their recent performance, ON THE WALL, is a perfect example. From the audience’s perspective, they see a legitimate news segment reporting on a crazed Tiktok star who has duct-taped themselves to the wall and plans to stay there for five full days. Authorities intervene, concerned citizens remark, and the performance ends.
But in reality, it was all staged. Kari’s team used a real news camera to fake the footage, and the reported quotes from “authorities” and “concerned citizens” are all made up. “I was actually only up there for a couple hours,” said Kari. “It was so fun and exciting. The perceived legitimacy of the event is what makes it interesting. That’s why we made sure to have an outlet like Artnet report on it. It helps the illusion because it’s a respected publication, and the footage looks so legitimate — you’d have no reason not to believe it.”
For more information on Vita Kari’s work, including upcoming performances and gallery dates, please visit @vitakari on Instagram. 🌀
Kaitlin Owens is the Archival Editor of HALOSCOPE and the Editor in Chief of DILETTANTE. For a closer look at her portfolio, please visit kaitlindotcom.com or @kaitlindotcom on Instagram.