AT A GLANCE
Karthika Sakthivel
Area of Practice: Storytelling , Extended Reality (XR), Immersive Experiences, New Media Art, Expanded Animation
OVERVIEW
Karthika Sakthivel is a Bangalore based media artist and storyteller working at the intersection of art and technology. By interweaving the tactile with the virtual to tell stories, she seeks to blur the boundaries between the real and the imagined. Her practice involves crafting interactive and immersive experiences that encourage one to pause and listen – if only for a brief moment. Her recent works adopt non-binary, non-linear and decolonised approaches to reimagining, rewriting and retelling timeworn stories in novel ways. Exploring the act of storytelling in an embodied manner is at present, the core of her investigation.
In an earlier role as the Community Engagement Lead at BeFantastic.in, Karthika led initiatives bridging tech, art and people across the globe. She managed artists and partners, coordinated events, and designed and delivered programs for various online and offline engagements including FutureFantastic (2023) – India’s first AI Art Festival for Climate Change – in partnership with FutureEverything (UK) and supported by The British Council’s India/UK Together Season of Culture.
Karthika’s work has been showcased internationally, including at The Royal Academy and The British Library in London. Her contributions to digital media have earned her a grant from the India Foundation for the Arts as part of their Project 560 program, and fellowships like the Futura Trōpica Network Fellowship, supported by Eyebeam.
She began her teaching journey as Visiting Faculty at her Alma Mater – Srishti for almost a year before joining full-time. At SMI, Karthika continues to push the boundaries of storytelling, exploring innovative ways to reach out and connect with audiences in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. Only this time she has a vibrant and eager bunch of students pushing the boundaries alongside her.
EDUCATION
- MA Digital Direction | Royal College of Art (London, United Kingdom)
- B.Cr.A Digital Media Arts | Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology (Bangalore, India)
- Exchange semester at ESAD – École supérieure d’art et de design d’Orléans (Orléans, France)
WORK EXPERIENCE
- Arts Cultural Management, Artist Management, Community Engagement, Festival Development as Community Engagement Lead at BeFantastic.in.
- BeFantastic is a techart platform that engages a vibrant international community of techart creators and experts to push the boundaries of technology and the arts.
- The role primarily involved hosting events, managing artists, funders and partners, engaging communities online as well as offline for a variety of international programs & fellowships including FutureFantastic (2023): India’s First AI Art Festival for Climate Change.
- Brief contributions to organisations like Science Gallery Bengaluru and The Plated Project in the past.
INTEREST AREAS
Techart | Embodied Storytelling | Extended Reality (XR) | Immersive Experiences | Expanded Animation | Decolonising Narratives | Screen as Material | Haptics | Storylistening | Mindfulness and Technology
Karthika Sakthivel’s artistic interests centre on expanding the boundaries of storytelling through non-linear and transmedia approaches. She explores how narratives can be co-created and co-authored, involving a collaboration between humans, machines, and other organisms. Her work challenges conventional storytelling by decolonizing narrative structures and time, while reimagining classic frameworks like the “Hero’s Journey.”
Karthika integrates participatory practices, multi-sensory narratives, and embodied storytelling, with a focus on the audience’s journey and their relationship to the story. She experiments with unconventional formats, redefining how screens and technology interact with storytelling, and how immersive media and physical computing, such as biofeedback, can reshape narrative experiences. Her exploration also includes the use of smart textiles, kinetic sculptures, and haptics to add new dimensions to storytelling.
In addition, Karthika is interested in the intersections of mindfulness, spirituality, and technology, creating workflows for new media that reflect her focus on temporalities and way-finding. She seeks to escape, expand and explode the conventional ‘frame’ of storytelling, blending public interventions, poetry, and obsolete technologies to spill stories into space and beyond.
CURRENT PRACTICE AT SRISHTI
New Media Art | Immersive Experiences | Storytelling | Extended Reality(XR) | Expanded Animation
- Examining, Expanding, Exploding & Escaping the traditional Screen/Frame.
- Leveraging the open and evolving nature of new media formats for storytelling. With no rigid rules or established formulas, embracing the opportunity to co-create a unique language with students. Fostering an open space for exploring non-linear processes and workflows, where students are encouraged to venture into the unfamiliar.
- Facilitating the creation of multi-sensorial experiences that engage with student creativity on an immersive, visceral and expansive canvas.
TEACHING PORTFOLIO
1. Out of [Frame] – A New Media Animation Workshop inviting and encouraging animators and storytellers to think ‘out of the [frame]’. Through Projection Mapping, students developed the skills to create out-of-screen experiences that challenge convention and push boundaries. Key workshop components included theory as well as hands-on sessions in lighting, material usage, sound design, and spatial thinking—all vital for crafting immersive experiences. Students worked in pairs to create sensory maps and transformed them into evocative, looping projection mapping installations that were showcased at the Open House.
2. (Bengaluru) Around the Corners – A Fulldome Film Fest as part of SMI Interpretations (2023) reframed the city experience through student-produced fulldome films, breaking free from rectangular screens to explore experimental narratives with animation, 360 video, live action, found footage, and immersive soundscapes. The project culminated in screenings on campus and at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium.
3. Facilitating Collective Speculations – This speculative design unit began with current forecasts and ventured into imaginative futures. By employing design as a medium of investigation, each student created an artefact addressing a future need based on their chosen scenario set 250 years from now. Through immersive storytelling and role-play, students facilitated collective speculations by operating a “Time Machine” with a selected community. This approach aimed to gather genuine and immediate insights into the futures people envisioned for themselves through make believe and rich conversations.
CREATIVE PRACTICE & OUTREACH
- Storytelling & Storylistening | Public Art | Participatory Art | Festival Development | Oral Histories | Smart Textiles | Community Engagement | Arts Cultural Management
- Ongoing Project: Sonic Picnics: Cubbon Edition Project 560 Grant – Arts Projects (Research/Practice)
Issued by India Foundation for the Arts · Mar 2024-2025
