Video still from “Eidolon”

BIO:

Simla Civelek (b. Istanbul, Turkey) is a performance artist based in Toronto, Canada. Her work has been presented at the FADO Performance Art Centre, 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art, SAVAC, and Nuit Blanche in Toronto, Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, Circa in Montréal, Art Nomade in Chicoutimi, Regart in Lévis, Glasshouse Art Life Lab in Brooklyn/NY, U.S.A., Experimental Action Performance Art Festival in Houston/TX, U.S.A., and OPEN Performance Art Festival in Beijing, China among other venues.

Civelek also works in video and her videos have screened at AVIFF Art Film Festival in Marseille, On Art Film Festival in Poland, European Cultural Centre, International Multimedia Art Festival (IMAF) and FADO Performance Art Centre in Toronto.

STATEMENT:

I am fascinated by the idea of how our bodies carry the knowledge of past gestures. Through performance, I aim to extract and present these gestures in ways that remove them from their specific cultural or historical meanings. This approach allows me to explore everyday, mundane experiences in fresh and meaningful ways.

My work is grounded in spatial awareness, where I consider the relationship between the location, objects, my body, and the audience. These elements interact uniquely in every performance, creating distinct dynamics each time.

Time plays a significant role in my creative process. I emphasize the value of slow, deliberate movement and the small, often overlooked shifts that happen within it. For me, "slow" doesn't equate to inactivity or boredom; rather, it's about finding depth in subtle, "microscopic moments" that unfold gradually, allowing the audience to engage in a deeper way with the performance. These moments highlight the transformative potential of even the smallest gestures.

In my practice, the body becomes both an object and an agent, impacting and being impacted by its surroundings, without the need for a psychological narrative. I use the body as a vessel to translate “nothing” into something that speaks to the audience in a more intuitive, almost abstract way.

My desire to avoid being overly comprehensible motivates me to explore what can be communicated through minimalism and silence.