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Simla Civelek
“I don’t want realism, I want magic.”
I came across this quote recently, once again, years after reading A Streetcar Named Desire for the first time. Things feel inherently different now. An outside world in turmoil and an inner world with angst, fear, and weariness. Blanche makes more sense, or rather, I understand her need. When I have the cynical question of “why make performance,” I also have the inclination to start from the present moment to find an answer, or rather, to look for an answer. As realism can never be a match for magic.
(Pictured above) Re-constructing De-construction: Language is a glue that binds human interaction. Human interaction then becomes all-encompassing verisimilitude. Let’s take away the glue, let’s take away the familiar reciprocity. Let’s go backwards. What truly speaks to gut also speaks to mind. The act is the hero, the words support the act.
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.
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Photo credit: © Simla Civelek. Pi*llOry part three. Re-constructing De-construction. 2020. Photo by Tina Bararian.
