Azmi Mert Erdem

Soapbox is a Creative Movement workshop series, using workshop-to-performance model to create a platform for moving, listening and dialogue. Times: Friday, May 23rd: 6 - 9pm (dinner around 8pm) Saturday, May 24th: 5 - 8pm Sunday, May 25th: 3 - 6pm (final performance around 5pm) Location: Awakening New York [607 Manhattan Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11222] http://awakeningny.com/ Coco Karol biography: When she couldn't fit her self into a cello, dancer and choreographer Coco Karol chose instead an upright base...and then a Thai drum...and then she squeezed into the nook of a flute player's elbow mid- C sharp...and currently, she wrestles with a Theramin in her spare time. Since graduating with a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts, Coco Karol has been making dance and performing in New York for over a decade. Coco started her professional career with The Boston Ballet and found her artistic voice with Marcus Schulkind. She is an existing member of Misnomer Dance Theater and has danced for Cherylyn Lavagnino Company and Christopher Williams, and done projects with Christy O'Harris and Bill Young, Chloe Douglas, Jose Navas, Steven Petronio, and Wanda Gala. She has worked closely along side musicians such as Bjork, Ryan Lott (Son Lux), Koh Ohtera, Daniel Carter, and Ear to Mind collective; and artists such as photographer Steven Sebring, sculptor Eve Bailey, architect Marcos Zotes and designer Louda Larrain. Her work has been shown internationally as well as across New York at Symphony Space, BAX, Ibeam, Spectrum, D.U.M.B.O Under the Bridge Arts Festival, New York Studio Gallery, Galapagos, Brooklyn Ballet, Death By Audio, in the AUNTS collective's shifting venues, as well as at some unique community events for neighborhood youth and gardening, including The Petri Space, a live work performance venue Karol built and ran in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Recently, Karol has begun exploring dance for camera and started Red Sole Productions, a small production company for dance-based media. She has also been developing workshop-to-performance models that cultivate embodied listening and moving, so as to create a platform for dialogue and to facilitate a space for discovery amongst artists or populations seeking social movement. Azmi Mert Erdem biography: Azmi Mert Erdem is a Turkish multidisciplinary artist, interweaving video, photography, performance, painting and installation in his work. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Television with honors from Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey. He continued his education in the One Year Filmmaking Program at the New York Film Academy, in New York City. In both Turkey and the United States, Mert has worked as a director, assistant director and cinematographer in several television series, music videos, and feature and short film productions. He has written and directed award winning short films featured in international film festivals. Additionally, Mert has collaborated as a video artist in site-specific performance, video and installation pieces in international platforms. Mert is inspired by performance art and the presence of the physical body and its interactions with objects, individuals and space. He continues working as a videographer for various art platforms and galleries, including Lehmann Maupin, as well as experimenting with various mediums and disciplines in his projects.

Soapbox is a Creative Movement workshop series, facilitated by Coco Karol and Azmi Mert Erdem using workshop-to-performance model to create a platform for moving, listening and dialogue. Inspired by the impromptu stages of 19th century soap-crate speeches, where wooden export crates became platforms for performative expressions and social dialog, Soapbox invites its participants to explore how we as individuals use our bodies to express ideas and connect with people around us, how we listen and communicate with each other, and create change in the world. This three day workshop-performance series began its journey at Awakening New York in 2014 and expanded to Space Debris Istanbul in 2015 with the contributions of artist Seyhan Musa and psychologist Zeynep Kocaoğlu. Video by: Ayse Nur Gencalp Edited by: Azmi Mert Erdem