Dr Srajana Kaikini is a philosopher, artist and curator. Her research domains include metaphysics, aesthetics, curatorial studies, arts pedagogy, kinship and relations, philosophy of language, philosophy of art, image, cinema and space. At Krea University, she teaches topics in aesthetics, metaphysics, ontology, phenomenology, art theory, arts practice and curatorial studies as well as supervises capstone research topics across philosophy, literature and arts. As a founding faculty member at Krea University, Dr Kaikini has been an integral part of the process of developing the curriculum and programmes at the Philosophy Department as well as the Global Arts Department and has served on various institutional committees.

Dr Kaikini received her PhD in Philosophy from the Manipal Centre for Humanities. She was part of de Appel’s Curatorial Programme 2012-13, Amsterdam, holds a Master in Arts and Aesthetics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and a Bachelors in Architecture. She is trained in the classical dance form of Odissi and continues to be a student of music. She has been the recipient of various grants and residencies through her early career as an independent curator-artist. These include the ISCP-Inlaks Curatorial Residency 2019, the Ffai Research Grant 2018, the CIMAM – Samdani Foundation Travel Grant 2018, FICA Research Fellowship 2013-14 and residencies at Delfina Foundation (London) and ISCP (New York). She was the collections curator at the KK Hebbar Gallery and Arts Centre (2016-2019). She is the recipient of the IFA-ZMAC Scholarly Grant for 2024-25 for her project engaging with the intellectual history of avant-garde Pune in the context of the museum’s pre-independence art collection.

Dr Kaikini is on the Editorial Boards of SciPhiWeb Repository of Reflections on Science, Philosophy and Gaming and Barefoot Philosophers and member of the Bioethics Forum – Collaborative for Palliative Care at Columbia University.

Her work has been widely published in academic and creative journals and anthologies. She is currently working on her forthcoming book Metaphysics of the Curatorial (under contract with Routledge).

Research

Metaphysics

Aesthetics

Curatorial Studies

Arts Pedagogy

Objects and Subjects

Relations

Philosophy of Language

Philosophy of Art

Image, Cinema and Space

Deleuze

Alan Badiou

Dhvani theory

Immanence and New Materialism

Publications

Books : 

• (Forthcoming under contract) Metaphysics of the Curatorial, Routledge.
• Kaikini, Srajana. 2023. (Monograph) Searching for the Present, where? Being-Becoming in Akbar Padamsee’s Figurations (1995 – 2006). The Guild, Bombay.
• Kaikini, Srajana. 2023. (Monograph) The Night the Writing Fell Silent. Works by Jogen Chowdhury Words by Srajana Kaikini. Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai. (Longlisted for the Oxford Art Book Prize 2024)

Commissioned Essays : 

• Kaikini, Srajana. 2024. Spiral Epistemologies: New Forms for the Public. In Projects / Processes 2023. Serendipity Arts Foundation, New Delhi.
• Kaikini, Srajana. 2023. Adyar’s Cosmopolitanisms – Notes from the Adyar Archive. Critical Collective Art History Newsletter. July. Online.

Peer Reviewed Papers, Book Chapters, Book Reviews : 

• Kaikini, Srajana. 2023. Face: An Insufficient technology of the Subject in Sambhashan Special Issue on Technology, Art, and Society. July – September, 2023. Volume 4, Issue 3. pp.19-33. Published by Mumbai University
• Kaikini, Srajana (Forthcoming). “The Plant Studies of K Venkatappa. The Artist’s Kinship with Nature, Truth and Rationality” in Mysore Modernity (Ed.) by Pushpamala N and Deeptha Achar, Routledge
•  Kaikini, Srajana. 2022. Book Review: “Nicolle Zapien and Susi Ferrarelo’s Ethical Experience: A Phenomenology”. London: Bloomsbury 2019.” in Ethical Perspectives 29 (3)

Teaching Modules

Required Courses: 

• Philosophical Concepts / Methods
• Creative Expression
• Philosophical Perspectives Across Cultures
• Aesthetics
• Exploring Arts, Understanding Culture

Electives : 

• Philosophy of the Image / Cinema / Art
• Curatorial Frameworks
• Concepts in Aesthetics
• Advanced topics in Aesthetics