Toni Dove takes a high-tech approach to art—her mixed-media performances star cyborgs and robots and employ mechanical three-dimensional projection screens. Performers animate video puppets through custom-built motion-sensing software (easier seen than said). With some operatic singers thrown in, a visit to Dove’s studio feels like a trip into a futuristic Wonderland.

Dove has spent the last 20 years figuring out how to tell stories in new ways and through new technology. Defying any particular artistic tradition runs in the family: Her grandfather, Arthur Dove, was among the first abstract painters in America. “Probably in the family DNA was the idea that it’s okay to get off the path with a machete,” she says. Her newest creation, Lucid Possession, premiers at Brooklyn’s Roulette in April.