Bekir Şimşek (b. 24 December 1995) is an artist and academic working in the field of performing arts and dance. He completed his undergraduate studies at Girne American University (GAU), Performing Arts Faculty, Department of Dance. During his undergraduate education, he focused particularly on street dance, hip-hop, and acrobatic movement practices, conducting research on the integration of these experiences with contemporary and modern dance techniques. His work concentrated on the transformation of bodily expression, transitions between techniques, and performative aesthetics.

He completed his Master of Arts degree at Arkin University of Creative Arts and Design (ARUCAD). During this period, he focused on art activism and festival practices, conducting research on performance structures. The relationship between art and social transformation constituted the central axis of his master’s studies.

Şimşek is currently pursuing a Proficiency in Art (Doctorate) degree at ARUCAD. His doctoral research is shaped around festival practice, multiculturalism, intercultural interaction, and peace activism. In particular, he examines the role of art in peacebuilding within the context of Northern Cyprus, approaching the art festival not merely as an event organization but as a site of artistic production, a field of research, and a political stance. He positions festival production as a practice-based research methodology, conceptualizing the festival as a performative space for cultural encounters, collective memory, and social dialogue. Within this framework, his work investigates how intercultural interaction is constructed through choreographic and curatorial structures, and explores the potential of art to develop a peace-oriented political discourse in the public sphere.

Adopting an interdisciplinary approach in his academic and artistic production, Bekir Şimşek positions both dance and festival practice as aesthetic as well as critical fields of inquiry.