Kiran Kumar

Born in Bangalore/India in 1983.

Kiran Kumar is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher and writer. His work focuses on unpacking understandings of the human body-mind through a trifold practice of dance as art, science and ritual.

Rooted primarily in somatic practices of Haṭha yoga, Kaḷaripayaṭṭ and traditional Indic temple dancing, his research involves critical, conceptual and artistic inquiries into these practices. In his works, these inquiries come into dialogue with pressing personal and planetary problems through performance, writing, video, installation and archiving as modes of artistic research publication.

Following initial study in mechanical engineering at the National University of Singapore, Kiran holds an MFA in new media art from the City University of Hong Kong (2012) and an MA in dance from the University of Arts Berlin/Germany (2014). His independent artistic research has been supported by Dance Nucleus Singapore (2016), Berlin Centre for Advanced Studies in Arts and Sciences (2016–2018), Volkswagen Foundation (2016–2019), Literary Colloquium Berlin & Robert Bosch Foundation (2019), Serendipity Arts Foundation (2020) and Academy for Theatre and Digitality (2021). Alongside his independent practice, in 2019 he co-founded the Sono-Choreographic Collective together with Kerstin Ergenzinger and Bnaya Halperin-Kaddari; a collective for transdisciplinary art and research.