DarkMatter is a trans/non-binary South Asian performance art duo composed of Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian. Though based in New York City, DarkMatter performs sold-out shows on stages and in venues across the world. They were recently featured in the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, the Lincoln Center’s La Casita Festival and the Queer International Arts Festival. 

In their own words: “darkmatter and darkenergy collectively comprise 96% of the universe, but you can’t see or understand them, except in their effects. we think of our work as politically doing the same — evincing phenomena otherwise understood in their effects. we also think challenging the ways we think about space/time/matter is key to dismantling systems of oppression.” 

The duo is known for its “quirky aesthetic and political panache”, and through a strong social media presence, writes and posts daily on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Topics covered range widely but focus strongly on radical QTPOC issues, trans and gender politics and social justice. Most of their performance is through spoken word poetry. 

DarkMatter performed at Yale in April 2014 and is currently on its #ItGetsBitter national tour in support of the duo’s latest published collection of poetry, It Gets Bitter.