Eco-performance artist, environmental writer and sustainable-minded creative director
1989, born in Çanakkale/Turkey. Lives and works in Istanbul/Turkey
https://aycaceylan.wordpress.com
instagram account: ayca_ceylan
Selected Performance and Exhibition
2025, Sandland Oracle: Codes of the Ancient Future, multilayered performative installation, Misk Art Institute, Masaha Artist Residency Cycle 9, Riyadh-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2025, Remember your inner creature, immersive performance, Hope Alkazar Alkazar (supported by Nike) /Türkiye, producer: xtopia
2025, Conchateller, installation, part of group show, Ekavart Gallery, Turkey
2024, Heal with ancient friend water!, site-specific performance, Art Junction 8th Sowing Seeds International Residency Programme, Udaipur, India
2024, The key that opens the gate of invisible library, egret, video performance, PerformVu
2024, Feel the ancient beat!, performance documentation, International Performance Art Festival Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
2023, myself as a pineapple, performative CALENDAR 2024, calendar exhibition, curated by London based Rhine Bernardino, UK
2022, Feel the ancient beat!, site-specific performance with AR, Collector House-Elif Dürüst, Contemporary Istanbul VIP
2022, Feel the ancient beat!, site-specific performance with AR, Collector House-Elif Dürüst, Contemporary Istanbul VIP
2022, Performative Table-Samhain, performance, 4 hours, RuinAdalia, Antalya, Turkey
2022, I invoke my cedar ancestors, site-specific performance, Kaleiçi Festival, Antalya, Turkey
2022, The keys that opens the gate of invisible library (egret), performance video, group exhibition curated by Hector Canonge, Bronx River Art Center, ABD
2022, The keys that opens the gate of invisible library (egret/performative installation, group exhibition, 2 months, Kingshill House Art Centre, UK
2021, #MyInnerFlora (manifest), performance video, Satellite Art Show&Performance Alive, Art Basel Miami
2021, The keys that opens the gate of invisible library, performance documentation exhibition, Do a Front, Yamaguchi, Japan
2021, Performative Table-Samhain, performance, 4 hours, Gate27, Istanbul, Turkey
2021, #MyInnerFlora (yarrow), performative installation, 6 weeks, Müze Evliyagil, Ankara, Turkey
2021, #MyInnerFlora (cotton), performative installation, 2 months, Dokumapark, Antalya, Turkey
2021, #MyInnerFlora (cotton) and You are my angel performance documentation video, group exhibiton, You Named It, Be Contemporary/Mine Sanat Istanbul, Turkey
2021, #MyInnerFlora (cotton) and You are my angel performance documentation video, group exhibiton, You Named It, Be Contemporary, Senkron Video Festival, Urla, Turkey
2020, Be yourself in work-city-inner world!, performance video for Giyi’s advertising film
2020, “body always remembers”, online interactive performance, quarantine art, all over the World
2020, Nymph, performance documentation, exhibition, Bilsart, Istanbul, Turkey
2020, to be how to be, performance, collaboration with bio artist and designer Ece Gozen, compuser and musician Çağrı Sertel and painter Ebru Ceylan, Yapıkredi Bomontiada, Istanbul, Turkey
2019, “Cover, fill and burry. What is love?”, performance, 210 minutes, The Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey curator Merve Elveren
2018, “Cover, fill and burry…What is love?”, performative installation, 3 weeks, Kova Art Space, Ankara, Turkey
2018, Am I far from heaven?, performance, 90 minutes, Zorlu PSM, Istanbul, Turkey
2018, “breath of life”, performance, 8 hours, Contemporary Istanbul, Conrad B5 2018, selection of “nymph”, performance documentation, Conrad Istanbul, Turkey
2018, “Am I far from heaven?”, performative installation, one month, Urban Hacking Project, ICAF, Istanbul, Turkey
2018, Nymph, performance documentation, exhibition, Mine Art-Antonina Art, Istanbul, Turkey
2018, “You are my angel…”, performative installation, Endless Art Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey
2018, “YOU MADE IT”, performative fashion show, 90 minutes, Bomontiada, Istanbul, Turkey
2017, “Am I far from heaven?”, performance, Contemporary Istanbul-Collectors’ Stories, Kempinski Bodrum, Turkey
2017, The World’s Companions, performance, Bomontiada, İstanbul, Turkey
2017, “Have you seen my Flora pass this way?”, performance, Zorlu PSM, İstanbul, Turkey
2017, “Which day is it today?”, performative installation, Palazzo Tibaldi, Design in TomTom St, Istanbul, Turkey
2017, all my every selfness, performance, 360 Istanbul, Love Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
2016, login-logout, interactive performance, Contemporary Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
2016, “-I think- we were stuck in between”, performative installation, PASAJ, Istanbul, Turkey
2016, All my every selfness, performance, Artnivo Project Space, Istanbul, Türkiye
2016, Alev, Mehtap&Murtaza, performance, Casa Dell Arte (art department), Bodrum, Muğla, Turkey
2016, Alev, Mehtap&Murtaza, performance, ODTU Contemporary Dance Days, Ankara, Turkey
Recidency/Fellowship
Misk Art Institute, Masaha Residency Cycle 9, 20th of April- 14th of July, Riyadh-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2025
The Alternative Art School (TAAS), online art school, Special Global South Fellowship, 2024
Sowing Seeds International Artist Village Residency, February, Udaipur-India, 2024
The neighbors, online artist residency, February, Chicago-ABD, 2022
Do a Front, artist residency, October-November, Yamaguchi-Japan, 2021
Workshops
2025, Eco-Performance: Connecting Performance Art and Environmentalism, Misk Art Institute, Riyadh-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2025, Remember your inner creature, immersive workshop, Hope Alkazar, producer: xtopia
2024, Eco-Performance: Connecting Performance Art and Environmentalism, 4 weeks, The European Cultural Centre
2024, Goddess Cult, 60 minutes, Türkiye İş Bankası
2024, Hidden symbols in our daily life, 2 hours, Mesele slow design
2024, You are a drop of water, 60 minutes, Müze Gazhane
2023, Eco-Performance: Connecting Performance Art and Environmentalism, 4 weeks, The European Cultural Centre
2023, What trees tell us, 2 hours, Atatürk Arboretum, Yıldız Holding
2022, Stories from stars, 90 minutes, Narmanlı Sanat
2022, Goddess Cults, 2 hours, Istanbul Archaeology Museums, Narmanlı Sanat
2022, What trees tell us, 90 minutes, online, Yeşilist
2022, What trees tell us, 2 hours, Atatürk Arboretum, Narmanlı Sanat
2021, Goddess Cult I, 2 hours, online, Narmanlı Sanat
2021, What plants tell us?, 4 hours, online, HorozArt
2021, “So what is the performance art?”, 2 hours, online, Bursa Metropolitan Municipality
2021, What plants tell us?, 2 hours, online, ZİÇEV
2020, What plants tell us?, 2 hours, online, Narmanlı Sanat
2020, “Body issue in art aesthetics in the 20th and 21st century”, 2 days (2 hours), online, Narmanlı Sanat
2020, “Body issue in art aesthetics in the 20th and 21st century”, 2 days (2 hours), online, The Circle
2020, Hidden symbols in our daily life, 2 hours, Narmanlı Sanat
2020, “So what is the performance art?”, 2 days (4 hours), online, The Circle
2020, “So what is the performance art?”, 2 days (4 hours), online, Uretimhane
2020, “Body issue in art aesthetics in the 20th and 21st century”, 2 days (2 hours), online, Uretimhane
2020, short history of the performance art, 1 hour, online, Narmanlı Sanat
2020, “So what is the performance art?”, 3 days (12 hours), Türkan Şoray Kültür Merkezi- Muratpaşa Belediyesi, Antalya
2020, “Cover, fill and burry. What is love?”, 3 hours, Narmanlı Sanat, Istanbul
2020, “So what is the performance art?”, 4 weeks (12 hours), Narmanlı Sanat, Istanbul
2019, Dreaming yourself, 45 minutes, special closed launch Duru Detoks Shower Gel, Feriye, Istanbul
2019, Do you remember your birth, 2 hours, SG Komurluk, Istanbul
2019, “Cover, fill and burry. What is love?”, 3 hours, Soho House Istanbul
2019, “So what is the performance art?”, 4 days (12 hours), Circuit Istanbul
2018, “So what is the performance art?”, 4 days (12 hours), SALT Galata, Istanbul
2018, “Cover, fill and burry. What is love?”, 6 hours, Zorlu PSM, Istanbul
2017, “So what is the performance art?”, 4 days (12 hours), STUDIO-X Istanbul
2017, “So what is the performance art?”, 4 days (12 hours), Zorlu PSM, Istanbul
2017, all my every selfness, workshop, 3 hours, Albert Long Hall, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul
Talks
2020, hidden symbols in our daily life, 2 hours, Hypatia Istanbul
2020, the space is enough for all of us, 1 hour, Turkey Design Council, Kuzguncuk-Istanbul
Exhibition Tour
2020, Making sense of Marina, Flux, exhibition, Marina Abramovic, SSM, Istanbul, (by Narmanlı Sanat)
Curatorial Works
2021-2022, Remember Your Inner World!, performance days, 7 artist-7 live performances and performance documentation exhibition (Body in Perform)
2021-2022, Body Issue (under the theme Remember Your Inner World!), podcast series (13 artist 13 countries) (Body in Perform)
2020, take me home where I belong, performance art in quarantine days from all over the world, Body in Perform, funded by SAHA
2019, take me home where I belong, 2 days, KOVA Art Space, Ankara (Body in Perform’s performance days)
2018, body as archive II-I, panel, 3 hours, STUDIO-X Istanbul (organized by Body in Perform)
2017, “to remember-to forget”, 3 days, Palazzo Tibaldi-Garage, Istanbul
2016, “How far am I from the city center?”,24 hours, Bring Your Art, Istanbul
2016, “dairy milk”performance day, 24 hours, COOP, Istanbul
Artist Statement
My artistic practice unfolds at the intersection of myth, ecology, collective healing, and embodied memory. Through site-specific rituals, performative installations, and multimedia storytelling, I explore how human and non-human bodies carry ancestral knowledge and future visions. Rooted in intuitive symbolism, I draw on comparative mythology, movement research, herbalism, spiritualism, and technology to craft immersive experiences. Working in natural landscapes, ancient cities, and transformative spaces, I seek to reconnect audiences with the Earth’s deeper rhythms. At the heart of my work is eco-performance—a powerful, restorative, and transformational key that invites remembrance, healing, and the imagination of a sustainable future. Each performative piece becomes a living portal where biodiversity, body politics, and sacred cosmologies converge. My practice is an offering toward collective regeneration, where art becomes a sensorial language for change.
Through ritual and remembrance, I make the invisible visible—so that we may feel what we once knew.
ancient future 
!