Towards a New Commons: Technology, Media and Dalit Cultural Practices

Image credits: Vishal Kumaraswamy/Marana

In this talk, we hear from Vishal Kumaraswamy, an artist-curator about his practices and projects. Stemming from anti-caste working principles, his practice brings together traditional and experimental forms to investigate the entanglements of body, caste, language, technology, and society. He is interested in the power and potential of media technologies to imagine embodied, gestural ways of fostering the further development of Dalit cultural practices.

Central to their inquiry is the continuity of Dalit ritualistic and cultural practices, Marana (on funeral processions) and how these embodied performances are impacted by shifting urban spaces and technological intervention. Kumaraswamy investigates how technology can be repurposed to document and sustain these legacies rather than erase them. He creates space for new, collaborative modes of representation that challenge dominant urban narratives.

The event is presented as part of a monthly series that brings in artists and artistic practices rooted in Bengaluru, developed in collaboration with Ananya Drishya.