Esa Kirkkopelto (born 1965) is a philosopher, artist-researcher, and performance artist. He has worked as a professor of artistic research at the University of the Arts Helsinki (2007–2018) and Malmö Theatre Academy (Lund University, 2020–2022). He also holds the title of docent in aesthetics at the University of Helsinki. He is the leader of a collective research project Actor´s Art in Modern Times on psychophysical actor training (2008–2011), the initiator of the International Platform for Performer Training (since 2014), core-convener of the Performance Philosophy association (2012–2022) and the founding member of the Other Spaces live art group (2004–). Having passed his Ph. D. in philosophy at the University of Strasbourg (2003), he is the author of Le théâtre de l´expérience. Contributions à la théorie de la scène (PUF 2008) as well as of numerous articles on the philosophy of performance, aesthetics and politics. His research focuses on the deconstruction of the performing body both in theory and in practice. In 2020, he published a treatise (Logomimesis, Tutkijaliitto 2020), which gathers together 15 years of study and experimentation in the areas of contemporary performance, artistic research, and performance philosophy.