Several projects have been selected as part of the new Media Art Fund and Media Art Fellows funding programmes. What do they all have in common? A co-operative mindset and the ambition to use media art and digital culture to investigate current issues and developments in the fields of art, technology and society. In the second series of the podcast, journalist Sophie Emilie Beha wants to find out from the people involved what other ideas and goals lie behind the projects of art and cultural institutions and initiatives from all over NRW. In behind the screens – behind the scenes, she talks to artists, curators and researchers from NRW about topics that concern and affect them. They conduct research together: into the essential, the hidden, points of friction and interfaces with society that can be found in the projects.

Episode 11: (RE)IMAG(IN)ING THE DIGITAL DOCUMENT OF DANCE

In this new episode of the podcast behind the screens – behind the scenes, journalist 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. In five years of field research, Kiraņ Kumār has incorporated a plethora of archival, archaeological, ethnographic and choreographic materials from India and Indonesia into this experiment, creating a dialogue with yogic-tantric practice. In a concluding workshop, participants were introduced to a transdisciplinary practice at the interface of dance, visual arts and new media.

Kiraņ Kumār is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher and author. His work focuses on the decoding of the human body-mind through a threefold practice of dance as art, science and ritual – resulting in proposals on how this understanding can enrich our world today. In Kumār’s works, these transdisciplinary investigations through performance, text, video, installation
and archiving as forms of publication in a dialogue with urgent personal and global problems.
Find out more about Kiraņ Kumār

Matthias Härtig is a programmer for artistic interactive visual applications, real-time visual environments and stage projects – especially for dance, theatre, music and computer art. He is the initiator of the DS-X.org working group and founding member of the Trans-Media-Akademie Hellerau (TMA).

Sophie Emilie Beha is a multimedia music journalist. She works in various contexts, including music, text, language, curation, improvisation, dramaturgy and poetry. Sophie moderates festivals, concert introductions, podcasts and panel discussions. She is also an author and presenter for various public broadcasters. Furthermore, she curates interdisciplinary events, realizes transmedia compositions and works as a dramaturge for ensembles.