“..investigating the effects of love, gender, femininity, desire, its consequent annihilation and the brutal covert power plays, skilfully broadening the typical relationships between masculinty and femininity online, in his creations Samira Elagoz flirts with the infinite possibilities of performance to shape an original language and offers us a unique brand of performance-reporting, multimedia happening and docufiction”. — Venice Biennale Teatro, Silver Lion award

“...does not revolve around solely sexual, gender and social archeology but also tests formal limits of docu-reality setup and performance art.”
– MUBI

“..singular ability to completely upend any viewer's beliefs about gender, intimacy and sexuality, and to make space for new ideas.” - Marijn Lems, NRC

“..spaces between violence and intimacy, reality and fiction, life and art, the public and the private, victimhood and agency, and between and within the multiple roles one embodies..” — Jury of Prix Jardin D’europe

About

Samira Elagoz is a Finnish/Egyptian transmasculine artist based between Berlin and Amsterdam. Since graduating from the Amsterdam University of the Arts in 2016, Elagoz has toured in various international film, visual art, and performance contexts, such as the Venice Biennale, IDFA, Rotterdam Film Festival, CPH:DOX, The Eye Museum, Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum, and The White Chapel Gallery. Throughout his career, he has won several awards, the latest being the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale Teatro in 2022.

Elagoz has dedicated his career to exploring themes such as gender, the politics of the gaze, sexual violence and its aftermath, digital romanticism, and intimate encounters. With a background in performative arts, he blends cinematic performance with theatrical documentary, creating a unique brand of ‘docu-fiction’ that weaves real and artificial elements together to reveal the absurdity in conventional scenarios.

Rejecting the confines of a studio, Elagoz bases his practice on real-life encounters, starting each project with a meeting with a stranger. His work is not merely a collection of portraits but an exploration of interactions. He has been a comrade, a lover, a confidant, and a sidekick.

From 2013 to 2019, when still a female artist, Elagoz focused on researching and filming cis-men, building an extensive body of work based on first encounters with male strangers via platforms like Craigslist, Tinder, and Chatroulette. His debut feature film Craigslist Allstars premiered at IDFA in 2016 and was nominated for Best International Film at CPH:DOX in 2017. The performance Cock, Cock, Who’s There? addressing sexual violence toured for years, both before and after #MeToo. It won multiple awards, including the Prix Jardin d’Europe and the Total Theatre Award. It was also nominated for the BNG Bank Nieuwe Theatermakersprijs.

Since 2020, Elagoz’s works have reflected his transition, shifting from an external examination of masculinity. Seek Bromance has been shown at festivals such as the Venice Biennale, IDFA, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Ruhrtriennale, and the Love and Anarchy Film Festival. Elagoz’s most recent work You can’t get what you want but you can get me with Z Walsh, was acquired into the permanent collection of Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum and has toured internationally, receiving several nominations for best short film.

Biography

Elagoz spent his formative years in a village called Karkkila in Finland. Surrounded by forest, fields, and little stimuli, he constantly tried to pervert his mind into divining interest. After escaping in her teens, he braved the world with an endlessly curious and devil may care attitude.

Artistic expression was a mainstay, and he decided on the simple dream of being a dancer. After studying for a year he could not help but find it unfulfilling to be someone else’s tool. Thus he quit and started to direct his own work.

Initial expressions were dark, mysterious, and cinematic performances. When he started making film he wanted to do the opposite. Documentary, done in a raw and exposed way. It all started by accident. A vocation he whimsically decided to pursue after having seen a cool guy at a bar, who he felt needed to be filmed.