Photo: Ulf Langheinrich

























Kiraṇ Kumār (b. 1983) is an artist, researcher and writer whose practice lies at the intersection of dance, critical historiography and speculative computing. Drawing from embodied and conceptual inquiries into yogic & tāntrik practices, his work articulates the nexus (or lack thereof) between premodern and future worlds, through performance, writing and visual art. He develops interdisciplinary works across diverse formats through long-term research cycles inquiring into embodiment, temporality, spirituality and digitality.

His visual art works have shown at Jeu de Paume Paris (2019), Singapore Biennial (2022), 21st c. Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa (2023); performance works have shown at Festspielhaus Hellerau (2020), Gessneralle Zürich (2022) and Malmö Konsthall (2023); and his writings have been published with Archive Books (2018), Performance Research Books (2020), transcript Verlag (2022) and K-Verlag (2023). He has held artistic research fellowships through the Berlin Centre for Advanced Studies in Arts and Sciences (2016-18), Volkswagen Foundation (2016-19), Literary Colloquium Berlin (2019), Academy for Theatre and Digitality (2021) and Dachverband Tanz Deutschland (2023). Current  fellowships include Akademie Schloss Solitude (2022/24) and Medienkunst.NRW (2023).

Following initial study in mechanical engineering at National University of Singapore (2006), he holds an MFA in new media art from City University of Hong Kong (2012) and an MA in dance from University of the Arts Berlin (2014). His long term collaborations include the Sono-Choreographic Collective together with sculptor/media artist Kerstin Ergenzinger and composer/sonic artist Bnaya Halperin-Kaddari; the Department of Para Pedagogic Practices with writer/art historian Shruti Belliappa; and with programmer Matthias Härtig. He is currently based between Auroville and Berlin.

email: kirankumar (@) archipelagoarchives (.) com
downloads:  cv  +  portfolio