Irena Kukrić

Irena Kukrić is a PhD candidate in the Binational Artistic PhD Program at University of the Arts Bremen (HfK Bremen) collaborating with Universiteit Leiden and KABK The Hague. She serves as Lecturer and coordinates the research project The Dynamic Archive at University of the Arts Bremen. Her practice investigates the absence of the human body in time-based installation performance, focusing on the tension between digital/mechanical systems and poetic human experience through non-human actors.

Her research spans performance art, digital media, and theatre studies with specialized focus on absence in art, non-human performance systems, and digital-physical duality. Projects like How to Walk on Water and No Longer, Not Yet materialize internet spaces through motorized installations, exploring how algorithmic environments fragment human presence. Her methodology combines mechanical scenography (using 4-11 motors), sound design, and digital programming to create 'spaces in-between' where audiences experience collective reflection.

Her scientific recognition includes the DAAD Matching Funds-Stipendium (2016) and University of the Arts Bremen's Hochschulpreis Digital Media (2015). Key exhibitions at Schwankhalle Bremen, Resonate Festival Belgrade, and Sinopale Turkey demonstrate international reach. Teaching since 2017 includes courses on landscape theory, change structures, and manifesto writing, often co-taught with senior faculty.

The Dynamic Archive project, supported by Senator für Kultur Bremen and Hollweg Stiftung, forms her research core. This initiative produces installation-performances that investigate digital memory through physical mechanisms, evolving from early works like Staging Absence (2016) to recent internet-space explorations. Technical collaborators include programmers and sound designers creating integrated systems where motors animate curtains, branches, and props to stage absence.