Atelier
Overview
Mapping Intimacy in the Age of Swipe Culture
Creator, Writer & Director of an 80-minute audio documentary exploring dating-app culture across Bangalore and Munich cities, developed through the bangaloREsidency-Expanded cultural grant by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore - 2022
Role: Creator / Creative Director
Format: Audio Documentary
Cities: Bangalore & Munich
Duration: 80 minutes
Program: bangaloREsidency-Expanded Residency Grant
Institution: Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore
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Internet-enabled dating platforms have transformed romantic decision-making into a rapid sequence of gestures - reducing attraction, rejection and curiosity into a binary interface of approval or dismissal. Throw a global pandemic into the mix, and the dynamics of digital intimacy become even more revealing.
Left Swipe Left was developed as part of the bangaloREsidency-Expanded program - an international cultural residency initiated by the Goethe-Institut that supports collaborative projects between India and Germany.
The Audio Documentary explores the changing landscape of dating, romance and intimacy in the cities of Bangalore and Munich in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Developed as a cross-cultural project between two cities, the documentary combines personal testimony and cultural observation to examine how algorithmic matchmaking reshapes contemporary experiences of connection.
(LEFT SWIPE LEFT SPOTIFY LINK)
deliverables:
[Documentary / Cultural Research / Audio Storytelling]
Challenge
The project involved navigating multiple layers of sensitivity, access and communication.
Conversations around dating, sexuality and emotional vulnerability remain socially guarded in many contexts. Building trust - and creating conditions for honest, unfiltered dialogue - required careful moderation and sustained engagement.
The project also operated across two linguistic and cultural environments. While English functioned as a bridge, it often proved insufficient for discussing nuanced experiences of intimacy, identity and relationships, particularly with participants in Munich.
Finding participants presented a further challenge. The subject demanded anonymity, trust and willingness to engage - making outreach inherently slow and unpredictable.
Together, these constraints shaped both the research process and the form of the work.
Approach
Swipe-based platforms turn complex emotional decisions into rapid, repetitive gestures.
As romantic interaction becomes mediated through interfaces; attraction and rejection are experienced as patterns of behaviour - turning relationships into a sequence of micro-decisions.
The Idea
Left Swipe Left is an interview-led audio documentary exploring the emotional consequences of swipe culture, especially in the light of the pandemic.
Built through anonymous conversations with dating-app users in Bengaluru and Munich, the work examines how people interpret rejection, navigate desire and negotiate connection within digital environments.
Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic - a period of intensified digital intimacy - the project captures both shared emotional patterns and culturally specific perspectives on dating and relationships.
The idea here wasn’t to inform people. It was to reflect a version of them they already recognized.
Research & Field Work
The project began with qualitative research into how individuals describe their experiences with dating platforms.
Recurring themes included:
rejection fatigue
behavioural patterns in dating
expectations and disappointment
algorithmic attraction
emotional ambiguity
loneliness within hyper-connectivity
This research informed both the interview design and narrative structure.
Participant Outreach
Participants were recruited through a mix of networks, public outreach and unconventional methods.
In Munich, posters and digital invitations circulated across cultural spaces and online communities. Dating apps themselves were also used as a recruitment tool, inviting users into the project through conversation.
This approach enabled a diverse range of voices across age, background and identity.
Interview Process
The documentary is built on anonymous, long-form conversations.
Interviews were conducted in informal settings to encourage openness, and focused on:
attraction and rejection
digital vs. physical relationships
pandemic-era intimacy
emotional fatigue and ambiguity
Participants ranged from 22 to 65, offering a wide spectrum of perspectives.
Solution
Narrative Design
The final piece is an 80-minute non-linear audio narrative.
Voices from Bengaluru and Munich intersect across themes, creating a layered structure where experiences echo, contrast and respond to one another.
Sound & Editorial Direction
The audio design is intentionally minimal.
The focus remains on voice, allowing emotional nuance to guide the listening experience. Storytelling functions as a tool for clarity - not embellishment.
Outcome
Left Swipe Left is an 80-minute audio documentary.
Exhibition & Presentation
The project was first presented as a work-in-progress at Kunstraum München, followed by a public discussion.
The completed work was later showcased at the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan in Bengaluru.
Cultural Reflection
The project explores how digital platforms reshape the emotional architecture of relationships.
Across Bengaluru and Munich, it reveals a shared condition - where expanded access to connection coexists with heightened experiences of rejection, ambiguity and distance.
My Role as Creator & Creative Director
Concept, research, participant outreach, interview design, narrative structure, editorial direction and final production.
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