PRITHA K.
INTERSECTIONAL MOVEMENT ARTIST | VISUAL ARTIST | RESEARCHER
art . tech . communities
I am an intersectional movement artist and filmmaker. Born and raised in India, I research intersections of storytelling, somatic practices, visual arts, and digital transformations to create accessible and equitable spaces for creative thinking, knowledge sharing, human narratives, and intangible cultural heritages.​
My movement practice draws from a constant effort to unlearn and decolonize my training of 24 years in various disciplines like Bharatanayam, Shankar Technique of Indian Modern Dance, Kathak, Butoh, Kung fu, Yoga, and Jazz. My work is rooted in research of embodied movement practices that allow us to “see”, “feel”, and express the many-layered narratives that fragment as well as hold together the identity of the “body”.
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Apart from present research, my formal academic background holds two Master of Science degrees in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology.
ABOUT ME
​I have a non-traditional artistic research based on my practice of various movement art forms, camera-based and computational visual arts and community engagement along with a formal research background in behavioural sciences and new media arts. My work is informed by notions of fragmented identities and my experiences navigating generational trauma of forced migrations, neurodivergent hidden disabilities, and gender dysphoria. I research the role of movement arts beyond traditional performative spaces, interacting with the camera, in creating participatory spaces of collective healing and voicing narratives - informed by personal experiences over historical and commonly misrepresented ones.
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WORK
Situated within the context of agency to communicate and process lived realities with and through the body, my work focuses on creating a framework for community engagement that moves the culture of embodied practices as a means of connection out of the "white cube" of the professional sphere and the academic discourse to accessible spaces, embedded within a part of everyday life for diverse communities globally.
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My artistic practice is based on ethnographic and autoethnographic research and has multimodal expressions in films, photographs, participatory research, performative choreographies, and interactive installations.
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Between Aug 2023 - Jan 2024, during a practice-led research at Ars Electronica and Interdisciplinary Transformation University Austria as well as an artistic residency with Kaunas 3022 Lithuania, my work focused on developing creative spaces based on multi-sensory interactive technologies and participatory performances through works like Mosaic of Memories and Also A Performance. This also builds on my earlier projects On Film where I examine dance-on-camera as a way to embody lived experiences of access, and on Movement Journal which is an on-going research work exploring how identities held within bodies are expressed through non-verbal vocabularies.
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Previously, I have developed projects like Delta Lives (Feb 2021 - Jun 2022) based on open-source, community-driven research and multi-modal ethnography supported by Fellowship from BeFantastic and Goethe Institute. Through projects exploring intersections of AI X performing arts X climate action, I have worked on game-based learning interfaces informed by somatic practices in the project Only a Game (Jun 2022 - Mar 2023) supported by British Council, Future Everything, and BeFantastic Within Fellowship. My work has built on facilitation and community engagement experience from founding and moderating a movement community, Aramandi To Attitude and other pedagogy design experience since 2018.
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Facilitation methods derived from movement therapeutic approaches, behavioural sciences and evolutionary biology focusing on group behaviour and pattern formation are important in my research.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Jul 2019 - Present
Director | Co-Founder
Aramandi To Attitude
Moderating the movement community, organizing and teaching community classes, workshops, web design, digital marketing, directing and conceptualizing creative works, securing funds.
Produced a residency program for supporting the work of emerging artists.
Conducted 60 outreach workshops in global educational institutes
Taught 300+ students across 800 community classes
Produced & directed 20 short films in international collaborations with 60+ artists
Produced 10 stage productions
Jan 2022 - Present
Associate Director | Member of Jury
WE Program
Operations strategy and management for providing community-sourced low-cost education and accessible opportunities to movement artists to educate, engage, and encourage emerging artists who wish to take creative risks through their independent projects. Member of Jury panel for evaluation of appliactions for WE Award.
Jul 2024
Research Grant
Culture Moves Europe
Individual Mobility Grant
Grantee in the second call for individual mobility funded by the Creative Europe program. For movement arts research on neurodivergence and somatic practices with communities in Lithuania.
Oct 2023 - Jan 2024
Artist In Residence: Culture Moves Europe
Residency with Kaunas 3022, Lithuania
Received travel grant, allowance, and production support to research and create work as artist-in-residence with 3022 collective. Presented work and hosted research workshops at Vyatutas Magnus University, Kaunas, developed two projects: Mosaic of Memories and Also A Performance.
Nov - Dec 2023
Work Presentation: Vyatutas Magnus University
VDU Teatras, Kaunas, Lithuania
Presented work on South Asian contemporary movement practices.
Hosted 8 practice-led research workshops focusing on movement art pedagogies.
Aug 2023 - Jan 2024
FOUNDING LAB Student
Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
Interdisciplinary Transformation University, Linz, Austria
Selected to join the Summer School and Fall Term of the FOUNDING LAB, a practice-led research initiative by Ars Electronica X ITU exploring digital transformations. Created performance for Ars Electronica Festival 2023 Opening Night. Received mentorship, scholarship and production support for independent project.
Feb 2023
Work Presentation: HOME, Manchester
Future Everything, Manchester, United Kingdom
British Council India
Presented Work-In-Progress of Only A Game
Panelist for discussion on role of AI X Performing arts in shaping artistic practices.
Feb 2023
Visiting Artist and Facilitator
Ballet Factory Emden, Germany
Presented artistic practice and facilitated 7-day workshop on research project: Essence of Indian Classical.
Jun 2022 - Mar 2023
Fellowship: BeFantastic Within
BeFantastic, Banaglore, India
Future Everything, Manchester, United Kingdom
British Council, India
One year fellowship and research on creating work with AI and performing art addressing climate concerns. Our project, Only A Game was one of the winning commissions funded by British Council and showcased at HOME, Manchester and at Future Fantatsic Festival, Banaglore.
Aug 2021 - Oct 2022
Fellowship : C3: Codes, Creativity, Community
BeFantastic, Bangalore, India
Goethe Institute, India
One year fellowship in open-source community building where our project Delta Lives received commission for developing an open-source platform at the intersection of tech, arts, and societies.
Jan 2021 - Oct 2022
Facilitator: Movement Arts Research and Creation
Toolbox,
Dhurii Space, Bangalore
Designed and taught training module for professional and non-professional dancers
Facilitated over 100 hours of classes for 36 students on processes of artistic research and creative tools to explore movement arts and develop unique expressions.
The module focusses on 1) research into developing and embodying new movement languages 2) narrative/story-telling-based and abstract movement explorations 3) finding languages through guided improvisations 4) dance documentation and visual portfolio creations.
Jan - June 2022
Begin Again Grant
World Dance Alliance, Asia Pacific
Received grant for producing a dance film, LOOPED, which was showcased at SWEAT Festival Hong Kong.
Jan 2021, Feb - Mar 2021
Scholarship: Gallim
Gallim Company, New York, USA.
The only Indian artist to receive scholarships to participate in two digital intensives for training on Dancing With Camera. Trained in the company-specific methods of movement research, documentation, filmmaking and digital marketing in dance. Produced two short films, Weighted and Locked.
Mentors: Andrea Miller, Ben Stamper, Andrew Ellis, Francesca Harper, Mary J. Frank, and Emily Terndrup.
Jan 2021
WE Award
WE Program, Switzerland
Received grant for independent movement arts research and co-creation with margialized artist communities.
Nov 2020
Scholarship: FLOCK
FLOCK Dance Company
Trained in the company-specific methods of movement research, documentation, filmmaking and digital marketing in dance.
Mentors: Alice Klock, Florian Lochner. Featured in a short film, Distal Places, created by FLOCK.
May 2020, July 2020, Jan 2021, Mar 2021
Scholarship: Jacob Jonas The Company
Jacob Jonas The Company, LA, USA.
The only Indian artist to receive scholarships to participate in their digital intensives. Trained in the company-specific methods of movement research, documentation, filmmaking and digital marketing in dance. In co-creation with over 20 international artists, produced 3 short dance films and collaborating creator with 4 dance films.
Mentors: Jacob Jonas, Jill Wilson, Joy Brown, Mike Tyus, Emma Rosenzweig-Bock.
Aug 2018 - Jan 2022
Master of Science Research (Ecological Sciences)
Theoretical Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Lab,
Centre For Ecological Sciences,
Indian Institue of Science, Banaglore, India
Examined applications of non-equilibrium statistical physics principles in biological systems. Studied dynamics of pattern formation through Integrated data-driven modelling and behavioural experiments using agent-based simulations of swarm dynamics in MATLAB, Python, and R.
Thesis: Effect of Boundary On Collective Movement of Animal Groups
Supervisor: Dr. Vishwesha Guttal
Aug 2014 - Jul 2018
Master of Science Research (Biological Sciences)
Behavioural Neurogenetics Lab,
Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit,
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India
Studied mathematical models of oscillator function in living systems to understand behaviour of biological clock properties and sleep rhythms.
Supervisor: Dr. Sheeba Vasu
Jul 2011 - Jun 2014
Bachelor of Science (Zoology Hons.)
Presidency University, Kolkata, India
Received INSPIRE SHE Fellowship (Govt. of India).