Senem Gökçe Oğultekin’s works operate at the interface of dance, film, visual arts and music. After studying stage dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts, which she completed with the Folkwang Dance Prize, she worked as a freelance performer with VA Wölfl/NEUER TANZ, Meg Stuart, Mara Tsironi and Laurent Chétouane, among others, and performed at Théatre de la Ville de Paris, Kunstenfestivaldesartes, Biennale di Venezia and Tanzplattform Deutschland.

As a singer, she sang Schönberg’s “Erwartung” in “NEUES STÜCK von NEUER TANZ” by VA Wölfl and in Chétouane ́s “Bach/Passion/Johannes” she took on the role of the Evangelist.

Her choreographic film Dun/Home was selected by Istanbul Modern Museum for Artist ́s Film International 2019 by Whitechapel Gallery London and was shown in renowned galleries and museums around the world. Her vocal choreography “HARK!” in collaboration with Luísa Saraiva was performed in Germany and internationally. In the summer of 2022, she shot the choreographic film VOID with Levent Duran in the Welzow Süd open-cast mine, the film premiered at Rencontres Internationales in Paris/Berlin in November 2024.

Senem Gökçe Oğultekin was awarded the Allbau Foundation Culture Prize in 2020 and was appointed to the Junge Kolleg of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts in 2021. And has recently become a member of the Young Academy Berlin.

In her work, she searches for a body that experiences the world not only visually, but with all its senses. She questions the primacy of vision and the optical control associated with it and strives for a physical shift in perspective in which people engage with “others”. Her work reflects a political vision of togetherness in which the human being does not function as the dominant center, but understands the world from the perspective of the “others”. All her works have a social reference, often through abstract or vague associations.

Curriculum Vitae 

Senem Gökçe Oğultekin 

Education   

2000 – 2005 Stage Dance Studies at Folkwang University  of the Arts, graduated with Master equivalence
1996 – 2000 Member of the “Youth Ballet Ensemble” at the State Opera of Istanbul
1993 – 2001 Austrian School Istanbul

Nominations and Awards 

2025 Induction into the Young Academy of Berlin
2021 Induction into the Young Academy of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts
2020 Culture Award from the Allbau Foundation Essen
2019 Selection of “Dun/Home” for the “Artist’s Film International 2019” program by Istanbul Modern Museum 
2015 Film Development Award for “Dun/Home” from the Armenian Turkey Cinema Platform
2010 Nomination for the Promotional Award of the City of Düsseldorf in the category of Performing Arts
2005 Folkwang Dance Prize from the Joseph and Else Classen Foundation

Selected Research Grants

2024 Research grant for “TASMA”, choreographic film project with singing women out of Georgian and Turkish villages, granted by the Kunststiftung NRW 
2023 Research grant for “NUN,” a project on body memory with people over 80, funded by Fonds DAKU
2022 Research grant for “Harmony in Anarchy,” exploring microtonality and Eurocentrism, funded by Fonds DAKU

Original Works

2025 “At the Threshold of the Presence” performance with installation in CCN La Rochelle – on invitation of La Tierce
2024 “VOID” a choreographic film in collaboration with Levent Duran (Premiered by Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin)
2024 “Mikrotonus – Eine Oper unter Vorbehalt” an installative performance with 6 turntables and rubber bands; premiere on 31.10.2024 at the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts in Düsseldorf
2023 “VOID Installation” a two-channel installation from VOID film material, premiered in March 2023 at Pact Zollverein, Essen
2022 “Mikrotonus” a lecture performance about power structures and musical systems, presented as a video work on Research Day at the Young Academy of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts
2021 “HARK!” a film adaptation of the stage piece HARK! for the Tanz NRW Festival and Festival do Danca Porto 2020
2020 “Hausbiologie” an experimental film in collaboration with Levent Duran
2020 “HARK!” a vocal choreography in collaboration with Luísa Saraiva; premiere at K3 Tanzplan Hamburg/Kampnagel; further performances at Teatro Municipal do Porto, Festival de la Cité Lausanne, Orbit Festival for New Music Cologne, LA Manufacture Bordeaux, CCB Lisbon, and at Folkwang Museum Essen as part of the symposium “The Act of Hearing”
2019 “Rebuilding” a cinematic spatial installation, exhibited at Pact Zollverein, selected for Tanz NRW Festival 2019
2018 “Dun/Home” a choreographic film; premiered at Mardin Biennale, selected for Artist’s Film International 2019 and Kino der Kunst Festival 2020, exhibited at Whitechapel Gallery London, Istanbul Modern Museum, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, KWM Art Center Beijing, Tromsø Kunstforening Norway, and Folkwang Museum as part of Video Folkwang a.o.
2018 “Familia” performance for the opening of the Kulturhaus Engelskirchen
2018 “STIMMEN” a performance for Kunstforum Gummersbach
2016 “Büyükannem bir Taş” a vocal choreography in collaboration with Aslı Bostancı; premiered at the Istanbul Theater Festival
2013 “Troja, an Opera of Plagiarism” a solo performance/vocal movement sketches; premiered at Kunstmuseum Müllheim an der Ruhr
2011 “Jung, Schön und Viel” a multimedia project; premiered at Katakomben Theater, Essen

Teaching Positions


2022 / 2024 Listening to the Other – workshops at the Folkwang Museum
2021  Shared Practices Sessions during the symposium “The Act of Hearing” at Folkwang Museum Essen
2018  Shared Practices Sessions during the symposium “Corporeality” at Folkwang Museum Essen
2017  Masterclass at Mimar Sinan University Istanbul, contemporary dance department
2015  Masterclass at Hacettepe University, Ankara, dance and acting department
2014  Masterclass at Ankara University, contemporary dance department

Artistic Collaborations as Performer

2016 Ben J. Riepe
“Arena Arctica,” performance/installation/music at Pact Zollverein Essen

2011 – 2016 Laurent Chétouane
“Considering,” dance at Montpellier Danse, Tanzquartier Wien
“Bach/Passion/Johannes,” singing (in the role of the Evangelist) at Kampnagel Hamburg, HAU Berlin, Kaitheater Brussels, among others
“horizon(s),” dance at Frascati Theatre Amsterdam
“15 Variationen über das Offene,” dance at Tanz im August Berlin HAU, Pact Zollverein Essen, Tanzplatform Deutschland 2014, among others
“Sacré Sacré du Printemps,” dance at Ruhrtriennale Essen/Pact Zollverein, Venice Biennale di Danza, Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales Seine-Saint Denis Paris, among others
“Auf Kolonos,” theatre and dance at Staatstheater Karlsruhe

2010 – 2014 Mara Tsironi
“CarneVale,” a window theater
“Beletage,” a solo performance
“Zu Olga,” a dance piece at Alte Feuerwache Cologne
“On The Rocks/With a Water Back,” a chamber dance at Loft Cologne

2010 Meg Stuart
“Off Course,” performance at Garaj Istanbul, Kunstenfestival 0090 Antwerpen, Cultuurcentrum De Velinx Tongeren

2008 – 2010 VA Wölfl
Member of the company NEUER TANZ under the artistic direction of VA Wölfl, performing in:

  • “Ich sah das Lamm auf dem Berg Zion, Offb. 14,1”
  • “Revolver”
  • “12,…im linken Rückspiegel auf dem Parkplatz von Woolworth”
  • “Winged Nightmare left wing”
  • “Neues Stück von Neuer Tanz”
  • “DAS CHROM +&DU”

Performed with NEUER TANZ at Theatre de la Ville de Paris, Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Saint Denis, Kunstenfestival des Arts Brussels, Tanzplatform Deutschland 2010 and 2012, among others
2006 Palindrome Dance Company
“Jenseits der Schatten,” assistant director at Beethovenfest Bonn

As Dancer
2008 Jan Pusch
“How do you do,” dance theatre at the Opera Oldenburg
2006 – 2007 Constance Lüttich
“Phonolithikum,” an intermedial dance piece at Kunstfest Weimar
2005 – 2006 Irina Pauls
Member of the Tanztheater Freiburg/Heidelberg Company
2005 Pina Bausch
Dancer in the piece “Tannhäuser Bacchanal”
2003 La Fura dels Baus
Dancer in the opera “The Magic Flute” at Ruhrtriennale
1996 – 2000 Weekly ballet performances at the State Opera Istanbul as a member of the “Youth Ensemble”

As Singer


2022 Arboleda Project with Utku Yurttas and Yinon Muallem
Concert at the Old Synagogue Essen
2019 Benjamin van Bebber/Leo Hofmann
Experimental opera “Ritournelle, Skizzen eines sesshaften Lebens,” premiere at Kampnagel Hamburg
2014 “Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop Berlin,” performance of all arias and recitatives from “Johannespassion” in the creation “Bach/Passion/Johannes” with Laurent Chétouane
2006 – 2010 with Utku Yurttas
Concerts at Stadthalle Müllheim an der Ruhr, Café Ada Wuppertal, Katakomben Theater Essen
2008 – 2010 Member of the a capella ensemble “Capella Vocale Essen”
Member of the Turkish music ensemble “NRW Türk Müziği Korosu”

Vocal Education and Instruments


2024 -2022: Vocal lessons according to Roy Hart Method with Anne Heeg
2019 – 2021: Viola da Gamba, lessons with Barbara Messmer
2009 – 2011 : Trumpet, lessons with Yavuz Duman
2008 – 2010 Vocal lessons with Susanne Keye
2010 – 2011 Vocal lessons with Katrin Müller
Since 2008: Kemençe (Turkish lap fiddle), lessons with Beril Çakmakoğlu