Camila Simonin acts in the entanglements between theater direction, movement studies, performance art and theory. In her research, she has looked into kinds of social gatherings, communication between groups that do not share "a common ground" and how apparatuses for group formation can be created through artistic events. She is currently looking into the question "What happens to the idea of progress when we start moving backwards?" by proposing public actions in New York and also investigating authoritarian and far-right political movements both in the US and in Brazil, her home country.

Why PS @ NYU?

Firstly, Performance Studies' interdisciplinary aspect makes it possible to explore my research interests without having to choose between a specific artistic language of dance or theater, besides giving me tools to also analyze political aspects happening outside "artistic events" as performance and aesthetic productions that inform and are informed by art. Secondly, it does so with a consistent theory basis, in an atmosphere in which I am surrounded by remarkable scholarships that are building fundamental work for the field. Finally, Performance Studies foster the way in which Performative Writing and Performance as a mode of knowing affect both academic and artistic production, an aspect that I understand as fundamentally important for my career as an artist-researcher.