Kiraṇ Kumār

Did you catch 'About Time' by Kiran Kumar at Rangoli Metro Art Centre for Day 4 of BLR Hubba? A travelogue that unfolds through anecdotes & analyses, rememberings & rumours, documents & dreams, the performance was a graceful in both form and thought! For more nartisu events, head to blrhubba.in and book your passes before they're gone.

'About Time' is a travelogue woven from anecdotes and analyses, documents and dreams. Moving between the Kaveri delta in India and Central Java in Indonesia, it traces how dance, song, and ritual have long been commissioned to keep time. Bodies, gongs, and gestures take turns in the churning of time itself. Written as 24 time-pieces and addressed in confidence to W. G. Sebald, this work revisits themes of memory, history, biography, fiction, and the image. An instalment from Kiraṇ Kumār’s ongoing project Epistolary Ancestries. 📅: Saturday 31st Jan 🕥: 7pm 📍: Cripa, Auroville Open to all - free entry - contributions welcome

About Time is a dance and theatre travelogue by Kiran Kumar that moves across the Kaveri delta in India and Central Java in Indonesia. Through ritual, memory, and objects, the work explores different ways of keeping time. Built through anecdotes, fragments, documents, and dreams, 'About Time' reflects on how bodies remember, pause, and carry histories across geographies. Part of Kiran Kumar’s long term artistic research Epistolary Ancestries, 'About Time' invites you to sit with time rather than chase it. 📍 Rangoli Metro Art Centre 📅 Mon, Jan 19 and Wed, Jan 21 🔗 https://blrhubba.in/events/about-time

In part two of our conversations with the Bodies–Machines–Publics 2025 residents, Kiraṇ Kumār (India), Rafa Roeder (UK), and Rahee Punyashloka (India) reflect on their evolving inquiries tracing intricacies and blurred thresholds between bodies, technologies, and publics. The Open Studio begins tomorrow, 5 December, 5:30 pm onwards at Khoj Studios, and continues till 9 December, featuring performances and artist-led interactions on 6–7 December, and a two-day workshop by Sundar Sarukkai on Body, Technology and the Arts (registrations open — link in bio). Stay tuned, and see you at the Open Studio. Supported by the Pro Helvetia Synergies Program, the project is a collaboration between NAVE (Chile), Khoj International Artists Association (India), Immersive Arts Space/ZHdK (Zurich, Switzerland) and Kornhausforum (Bern, Switzerland). Rafa Roeder’s participation in the residency is supported by the British Council, and Cyanne van den Houten’s participation is supported by the Netherlands Embassy in India. Artists-in-residence: @cyannevdh  @rafaroeder  @porgoteo  @kaldi_moss  @artedkar  @archipelagrams Collaborators: @prohelvetia  @inbritish  @britisharts  @centro_nave  @zhdk_immersiveartsspace  @kornhausforum  @nlinindia

I am truly delighted to contribute to this beautiful work by Kiran Kumar, along with his artistic collaborators and production team Kerstin Ergenzinger, Matthias Härtig, Bnaya Halperin Kaddari, Vinay Khare, Aarati Akkapeddi, Lucie Tuma, Anukuvi Thavarasa and Thomas Dumke. "Dear Dead Doctor" will premier tomorrow and Thursday at Theater im Depot in Dortmund, as part of The Beyond Gravity Festival, an interdisciplinary festival for digital arts, dance and performance. The piece is performed in English and translated into Tamizh and German and I would like to especially invite the Tamizh community in and around Dortmund. ________ "Dear Dead Doctor is the final instalment in Kiraṇ Kumār’s long-term artistic research 'Epistolary Ancestries', a corpus of ten open letters, each addressed to an adopted ancestor. In this last letter, Kiraṇ addresses his paternal grandfather upon the blank pages of the doctor’s own diary. Purposefully and playfully, over six hundred ‘lines’ are performed across surfaces of stage, page and screen. The lines are non-linear - some textual passages, some solitary words, some loops of dancing, some curvilinear drawings. These lines evoke many kinds of bodies - familial, archival, mythical, medical, metaphorical, ritual, temporal, visual, unusual, sonorous and digital. These bodies are made variously of breath, skin, paper, light, cloth, shadow, photo, flute, flour and pixels. This inter-generational dialogue between present and absent bodies offers up the theatre as a space for personal, collective and collaborative conversations about (dis)inheritance of body-knowledge and (co)conception of dis/embodied futures." @archipelagrams @theaterimdepot @beyond_gravity_festival @anukuvi

An Audio-Visual Essay Performance On the surface, the work is a transgenerational dialogue between Kiraṇ Kumār and his grandfather. But it is precisely this personal dialogue that opens up a broader, public conversation – between any two positions that are simultaneously connected (by origin) and separated (by migration), across time (grandparents and grandchildren), across places (people in the diaspora) and between different systems of knowledge (art and science). 👉 Get your Tickets - LINK IN BIO ⏰ Wed, 01.10. - 8:00 pm ⏰ Thu, 02.10. - 9:00 pm 📍 Theater im Depot Don’t miss out 💚 // Eine audiovisuelle Essay Performance An der Oberfläche ist die Arbeit eine transgenerationale Ansprache zwischen Kiraṇ Kumār und seinem Großvater. Doch gerade durch diese persönliche Ansprache öffnet sich ein weiter gefasstes, öffentliches Gespräch – zwischen beliebigen zwei Positionen, die gleichzeitig verbunden (durch Herkunft) und getrennt (durch Migration) sind, über Zeiten hinweg (Großeltern und Enkel), Orte hinweg (Menschen in der Diaspora) und zwischen verschiedenen Wissenssystemen (Kunst und Wissenschaft). [Dear Dead Doctor ist gefördert durch die Kunststiftung NRW, das Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen im Förderprogramm Neue Künste Ruhr sowie dem Kulturbüro der Stadt Dortmund und wird koproduziert durch die Akademie für Theater und Digitalität, dem Theater im Depot Dortmund und der Agentur depart.one.]

📅 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕟? Wed, 01.10.2025, 8:00 pm Thu, 02.10.2025, 9:00 pm 📍 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖? Theatersaal, Theatre im Depot 🎟️ 🅶🅴🆃 🆈🅾🆄🆁 🆃🅸🅲🅺🅴🆃🆂 🅽🅾🆆 - Link in bio Dear Dead Doctor is funded by the Kunststiftung NRW, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia in the Neue Künste Ruhr funding program, and the Cultural Office of the City of Dortmund, and is co-produced by the Academy for Theater and Digitality, the Theater im Depot Dortmund, and the agency depart.one. // „Dear Dead Doctor“ ist ein digitales Dokumentartheater, das sich als generationsübergreifender Brief über die Oberflächen von Bühne, Buch und Bildschirm erstreckt. Vor dem Hintergrund eines Dialogs zwischen yogischen/ tāntrischen Praktiken und allopathischen medizinischen Traditionen entfalten sich in der Aufführung gleichzeitig zwei Ereignisse: zum einen ein Dialog zwischen östlichem Tanz und westlicher Medizin zwischen dem interdisziplinären Künstler Kiraṇ Kumār und seinem Großvater und zum anderen die Live-Erzeugung eines hybriden digitalen Wesens durch KI-basiertes Lernen aus Archiv- und Echtzeit-Datenerfassung von Künstlern und Publikum gleichermaßen. Dear Dead Doctor ist gefördert durch die Kunststiftung NRW, das Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen im Förderprogramm Neue Künste Ruhr sowie dem Kulturbüro der Stadt Dortmund und wird koproduziert durch die Akademie für Theater und Digitalität, dem Theater im Depot Dortmund und der Agentur depart.one.

Our Artist in Residence, Kiran Kumar, in collaboration with IIT Jodhpur, kicked off his residency by hosting a Kolam workshop with students. Kolam, an ancient art form believed to have originated 5,000 years ago, serves both religious and ornamental purposes. Traditionally, Kolams were drawn on the ground with edible grains and vegetable dyes, not only to feed insects but also as an act of charity, as encouraged by Hindu scriptures. These beautiful designs are also created to welcome Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity, and to ward off evil spirits, while adding aesthetic value to homes. The simplest form, known as Pulli Kolam or “dotted Kolam,” features dots arranged in a grid, connected to form symmetrical shapes symbolizing universal balance and the Hindu concept of Shiva-Shakti. Traditionally drawn at the entrance of homes, Kolams vary in size, with larger designs often gracing public spaces. #kolamart #kirankumar #artistinresidence #iitjodhpur #traditionalart #ancientartforms #hinduart #culturalheritage #artworkshops #creativeresidency #kolamdesign #pullikolam #publicartstrustofindia #jodhpurartsweek

In this new episode of the podcast Sophie Emilie Beha discusses the research project (RE)IMAG(IN)ING THE DIGITAL DOCUMENT OF DANCE, which was organised as part of the media art fellowship at the Theater im Depot. In an interview, artist and choreographer Kiraņ Kumār, software engineer Matthias Härtig and theatre director Jens Heitjohann talk about their experiences from the project, which explores the understanding of dance as a universal form of movement. This is facilitated by a specially programmed digital capturing method that creates a kind of digital essence of dance. Find the episode in our link in bio. In dieser neuen Folge des Podcasts bespricht die Journalistin Sophie Emilie Beha das Forschungsprojekt (RE)IMAG(IN)ING THE DIGITAL DOCUMENT OF DANCE, das im Rahmen des Medienkunstfellowships am Theater im Depot ausgerichtet wurde. Im Gespräch berichten Künstler und Choreograf Kiraņ Kumār, Software-Ingenieur Matthias Härtig und Theaterleitung Jens Heitjohann über ihre Erfahrungen aus dem Projekt, welches das Erfassen von Tanz als universelle Bewegungsform erforscht. Dabei behilflich ist eine eigens programmierte digitale Capturingmethode, die eine Art digitale Essenz des Tanzes erstellt. Die ganze Folge findet ihr im Link in der Bio.