about

Mukul develops critical, collaborative intermedia works, environments and processes – informed by 25 years of engagement with network cultures, technology and art, and studies across humanities, sciences and mathematics.

Since 2022 he has been increasingly focussed on critique of AI, in post as Senior Research Associate at the Royal College of Art, London’s AIDlab, and in collaborations with initiatives including BRAID and Public Voices in AI. Another domain of interest is the archive, specifically the democratic possibilities afforded by open-access, metadata-rich archives, which he has explored with the Imagining Futures network and Vienna-based Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (IWM).

An extensive history of sonic works for installation and compositions for film and contemporary dance includes collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, BalletBoyz, Isaac Julien, Bayerisches Staatsballet, Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon, Russell Maliphant, and Shobana Jeyasingh. His writing ranges from critical papers on social and technological infrastructures and film scripts voiced by Tilda Swinton (Faceless, 2006; Dreams Rewired, 2015), to an acclaimed children’s book on mathematics.

Current political concerns revolve around the possibility of autonomy in algorithmically managed spaces, and a humanist critique of the technological utopias centred on ‘singularity’ and ‘artificial intelligence’. Ongoing research interests include the arbitrariness of mathematical assumptions underlying decision architectures and processes, and the archaism of metaphors borrowed from sciences. Formally, his work is informed by the music of North India, OuLiPo, and 1960s conceptual practice.

Together with Manu Luksch, he directs London-based Ambient Information Systems, a studio for developing investigative tools, responsive environments and participatory processes.