GÖRKEM ACAROĞLU  

Education

 

2015  PhD - Technological actors in Cyborg Theatre  Deakin University

 

2009 Master of Creative Media - Interactive Media Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

 

2004 Graduate Diploma - Theatre Direction Victorian College of the Arts

 

2003 Playwrights Studio National Institute of Dramatic Arts

 

2002 Bachelor of Arts, Honors - Theatre University of New South Wales

 

2000 Master of Media Arts - Film and Video University of Technology, Sydney

 

1998 Bachelor of Applied Science - Social Ecology University of Western Sydney

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1998 Bachelor of Arts - Theatre Theory and Practice University of Western Sydney Nepean

 

Experience

Commencing her artistic career in Western Sydney in the 1990s, Görkem has been making theatre in all its forms throughout NSW, Victoria, and internationally. She has presented in numerous festivals and worked with multiple acclaimed Australian artists. She has written seven stage plays and directed over 60 productions from documentary and digital performance, live art, text-based theatre, immersive and site-specific performance and community engaged practice. She has worked with multiple theatre companies devising original works, presenting contemporary plays, premieres of new writing working closely with the playwright, and numerous adaptations.

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Over the past decade, Görkem has pioneered a form of documentary immersive site-specific performance with works including Museum UNDONE presented in a regional museum, The 24 Hour Experience, a living documentary of the lesser known perspectives of place - 24 live works on the hour every hour for 24 hours, engaging 150 artists, 24 community partners and 24 venues in Melbourne in 2014 and then a new iteration in Ballarat 2015. As Creative Director of Metanoia Theatre, Görkem developed Milk Bars (2016) exploring the Australian milk bar phenomenon since its demise with the rise of supermarkets. Görkem curated 10Cs (2015), another site-specific immersive work that engaged 10 artists and a number of non-artists in an exploration of the ten commandments. She directed the Birregurra Arts Ballyhoo (2018), part of Regional Arts Victoria’s Small Town Transformations, a live art event engaging multiple artists and community members after a two year engagement with the town of Birregurra.

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Görkem was Creative Director of the Mixed Reality Performance Lab, funded through Australia Council for the Arts Interarts. Establishing partnerships with Deakin University’s Motion Capture Lab to create 3D stereoscopic backgrounds and a motion capture operated avatar as a performer with live actors; and with the Centre for Intelligent Systems Research, Görkem oversaw the creation of a custom made robot that performed with live actors.

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Görkem has taught theatre and performance at Deakin University since 2010, provided Diversity and Inclusion training for arts organisations across the country often working with Diversity Arts Australia, and has held numerous producing and programming roles such as  Arts Participation Program Manager for City of Melbourne and Program Producer for Fed Square amongst others. 

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Görkem also has a visual arts practice in painting and installation and often publishes her writing on various platforms.

 

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