Yashaswini.S.R.
Bangalore, India yashaswini.r@gmail.com
Education
Royal College of Art, London
MA Sound Art and Design
- with support from INLAKS Scholarship
2013–2015
Sophia College, Mumbai
PG Diploma Social Communications Media
2005–2006
Projects
ELEVEN EARS
Film, translation and library project using poetry of tamil poet Atmanam.
2022–
• Eleven Ears — feature documentary (in development)
• An Incident that Never Occurred — lecture performance
THAT CLOUD NEVER LEFT & OTHER WORKS
Film and research project exploring small-scale industries such as toy-making and the circulation of film material in Daspara, Murshidabad, West Bengal
2016–
• That Cloud Never Left — feature film
• Kyatketi and other videos — for People Archive of Rural India
• Sun, Moon, Toy, Earth — installation
• Daspara Toy Tales (in development with Government School) — workshops & short animations
BEHIND THE TIN SHEETS
Installations and Film series on labour, migration and urban transformation in Bangalore
2009–
• In_transience (2012)
• Presence (2013)
• Distance (2014)
• Saboot (2020)
• Ghatna (in development)
• Sukoon (in development)
• Down the Rabbit Hole (2011): Developed through the Archival and Museum Fellowship, India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), in collaboration with the Archives of Indian Labour, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute.
• Home is at the Centre (2010) developed at ‘Maps for Making Change’ Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore .
• Geometry of memory (2012) at Sarai Reader 09: Projections, Delhi
SOUND PRACTICE
Field recordings, instrumentation, material research form the basis for producing narrative albums and film sound design.
2013–
Gekiyasu (2013–2015)
Collaborative sound practice with Jacqueline Ford, developed at the Royal College of Art
Narrative sound albums and tracks:
• Man in the Eye
• The Death of a Snake Should Be a Very Sad Sound
• Cinema in the Ear
• Romania
• Sound Lab - basement tracks
The Ear & The Brain (2021–ongoing)
Research and Development with neuroscientist Arianna Zuanazzi
Videos and Installation:
• I Invite You (Symbiosis Winner at the Imagine Science Film Festival)
Sound design
2026 — Ndjimu, with Petna Ndaliko Katondolo · International Film Festival Rotterdam (Tiger Short Award)
2026 — Yurugu, with Petna Ndaliko Katondolo · Berlinale Forum Expanded
2026 — Zamani, with Petna Ndaliko Katondolo · Locarno Film Festival
2026 — Wakati, with Petna Ndaliko Katondolo · Locarno Film Festival
2025 — Overnight Coup Plan, with Marina Xenofontos · Best Art Film, St. Moritz Art Film Festival
2024 — From Infra Earth to Extra Sky, with Aarti Sunder · Dystopia Sound Art Biennial, Berlin · West Space, Melbourne
2023 — Grounds of Coherence #1, with Shen Xin · EMPAC, New York · Surplus Space, Wuhan
2021 — House for a God, with Studio NYALI · Dortmunder U
2020 — Brine Lake (A New Body), with Shen Xin · Gwangju Biennale · Walker Art Center
Teaching & Workshops
2026 — Documentary: Theory and Practice -Guest Faculty at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. 2026 — Expanded Cinema & Installation Workshop, Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Arunachal Pradesh
2023 — Expanded Cinema & Installation Workshop, Hypercultural Passengers as a part of Hamburg India Week
Film Festivals & Awards
2021 — International Film Festival Rotterdam (Bright Future Competition) · FILAF (Golden FILAF Award) · Sharjah Film Platform (Best Experimental Documentary Award) · 55th Pesaro International Film Festival (Special Mention) · Kasseler Dokfest (Special Mention) · True/False Film Festival · Melbourne International Film Festival · Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival · Images Festival, Toronto · Beijing International Film Festival · Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) · International Film Festival of Kerala
2013–2015 — Dok Leipzig (Best International Short Documentary-Distance) · Viennale · Videoex · International Film Festival Kerala · International Women Film Festival, Vilnius · Asiatic Film Mediale, Rome · Monitor 8, South Asian Visual Arts Centre, Toronto · ICA, London · Doppelgänger-Werkleitz Festival, Haale-Saale· Urban Lens Festival, IIHS Bangalore ·
Exhibitions
2026 — Norient Festival, Bern — An Incident That Never Occurred
2025 — Arthshila, New Delhi — Duniya Parchhaiyon Ki
2024 — Bradwolff Projects, Amsterdam — Prayers of taps
2023 — Hypercultural Passengers, Hamburg India Week — My First GermanLesson
2021 — Marwan, Amsterdam — This Hole is a Half Dream of a Dune
2019 — Rijksakademie Open Studios, Amsterdam — Blind Ride
2013–2017 — Experimenta at Tate Modern, London · Intense Proximité (La Triennale), Palais de Tokyo, Paris · Godrej Culture Labs, Delhi · BMW Guggenheim Lab, Mumbai · Labour and Leisure, Alternativa, Gdansk · State of Motion, Asia Art Archive, Singapore
Residencies / Labs / Grants
2025 — Visions du Réel Development Lab
2025 — IDFA Forum Producers Connection
2025 — Han Nefkens Foundation Moving Image Commission Finalist
2024 — Yamagata Documentary Dojo Residency
2024 — Docs by the Sea, Bali
2023 — HyperCultural Passengers Residency, Hamburg
2022 — Berlinale Talents – DocStation
2021 — STEAMplant Initiative Grant, Pratt Institute
2018–2020 — Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam
2017–2018 — People’s Archive of India Research Fellowship
Talks & Writings
2026 — Invited essay on S.G. Palya and Eleven Ears for Negotiating City: An Anthology of Interdisciplinary Urban Studies (forthcoming).
2025 — Sound as Image, screening and lecture, That Cloud Never Left, Listening Biennial, Colombo
2024 — Two Starting Points: The Sonic in My Films, in Resistance in Indian Documentary Film: Aesthetics, Culture and Practice, edited by Shweta Kishore and Kunal Ray (forthcoming) · Eat Your Mother and Father, Essay Film Symposium, Bangalore International Centre
2023 — Beyond Theory: Mapping Feminist Practices in the Contemporary · Eclipse Entanglements, Planetary Patchwork Seminar on Artistic Practices, Heritage and Epistemologies