Inci Gül Civelekoğlu

As a performer, I am interested in finding ambiguous ways of stepping into a performative body. I enjoy inhabiting spaces where identities and intentions remain slightly unresolved, allowing room for imagination. On stage I enjoy taking flirtatious risks, really opening up towards emptying out but also filling the body. I like to work thinking of dissecting gestures and mime. I hope to be sharing this intimate space which is the theatre for a very long time. I think the great thing about this discipline is that each day you can decide who to be in the studio, I like the idea that it all temporarily transforms.

At the moment, my ambition is to place myself in environments where artistic visions, practices, and ways of thinking are genuinely shared. Over the coming years, I would like to further develop my practice both as a performer and as a maker, gradually moving towards creating and presenting more of my own work. I am interested in building a sustainable artistic life, one that allows curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration to remain at the center. I hope to continue working with artists whose practices challenge and inspire me, while also finding the confidence to trust my own artistic instincts and questions. Outside of the artistic realm, one of my ambitions is surprisingly ‘simple’: creating a sense of home somewhere. Working as a freelance artist often means constantly moving between cities, projects, and temporary communities. While that mobility is a privilege and allows me to encounter many different worlds, it can also be exhausting. I dream of having a home base; a place where I know my neighbors, where I can invest time in a community, and where there is a sense of continuity amidst the constant movement. In many ways, the nomadic nature of this profession is both a blessing and a curse, and I am interested in finding a balance between the two.

Honestly, lame answer but just mostly by seeing how lived experience and the world merge together. To feel and observe where the urgency is striking. But also by dreaming!! , letting the intuitive fantastic stream through its ideas.

This year was largely dedicated to developing my career path as both a freelance performer and an emerging maker. Through several internships and professional collaborations, I was able to encounter different artistic methodologies and working environments, each of which expanded my understanding of artistic practice in unique ways. I completed an internship with choreographer Connor Schumacher in Rotterdam, where we created the performance Asset, Liability & Equity. The work premiered at Theater Rotterdam and will continue with a Dutch tour starting in October. So whoever is reading this, you should check it out and come. I was also invited to participate in the research residencies for Courtney May Robertson’s upcoming production BANSHEE. The creation process itself will begin in October, but being present during the early research stages was incredibly valuable. I found it inspiring to become familiar with an artist’s methodologies, interests, and desires before entering production. It felt like a gift to share studio space at such an exploratory moment, allowing ideas, references, and questions to emerge organically. BANSHEE will premiere in March 2027 in Grand Theatre Groningen, and continue with a Dutch and International tour immediately after, so again using this to do a little self-advertising promo. Alongside these performance-focused experiences, I wanted to broaden my skill set and engage with artistic practices beyond choreography. For this reason, I undertook an internship with transdiciplinary artist Stef Van Looveren. Their work operates between performance and visual art, and during my time in the studio I was introduced to materials and techniques that were entirely new to me, including epoxy, wax, and torch work. What struck me most was the amount of patience these processes required. Working with unfamiliar materials involved continuous experimentation. This experience taught me a great deal about trusting the process and understanding that uncertainty and trial-and-error are often necessary parts of creation. Alongside these internships, I was also touring between Belgium and the Netherlands with the theatre production The Truthful, directed by Lieselot Siddiki. Through this production, I was nominated by the jury of Het Theaterfestival in the category of Most Appreciated Performance -35. To get that recognition is such a compliment. Feeling honored to be nominated alongside so many other amazing artists. !!! Overall; Each project exposed me to different artistic worlds and ways of working, ultimately helping me refine my own understanding of what kind of artist I aspire to become.