soft soft softer
soft soft softer explores pleasure and joy as relational and contextual phenomena - emerging between bodies, gazes, and social norms. The project is grounded in the question of how pleasure becomes visible, negotiated, or contested depending on configurations of bodies, social roles, and cultural expectations.
The work also reflects on mechanisms of visibility: who has the right to look, who is allowed to be seen, and how the act of observing itself shapes relations of power and exposure. Istanbul - the city where the project is being developed - provides a natural context for examining how relationships between bodies, attention, and presence are organized.
We invite audiences to join the event as active participants - co-creators of the dynamics of looking, being seen, and collectively negotiating pleasure.
choreography Omar Karabulut
performance Aslı Bostancı, Melih Kıraç, Omar Karabulut
photos Ayten Çelik
thanks to Mimar Sinan Fine Art University Modern Dance Department, Çıplak Ayaklar, Tugçe Ulugün Tuna, Aslı Ozturk
The project is co-financed by the European Union under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NextGenerationEU).
Istanbul, Turkey 28.02.2026 17:00 and 20:00 Çıplak Ayaklar Studio
Artistic residency in Istanbul
As part of the National Recovery Plan scholarship project, I implemented an artistic residency under the slogan "discovery through collaborative creation". Its main goal was to explore Turkish culture and gradually learn about each other - who we are, what our experiences and sensitivities are - and to explore and confront Polish and Turkish cultures. The important element was the exchange of artistic practices and the systematic documentation of the process, treated not only as a record but also as part of the creative practice itself.
The source of inspiration lay in the memory of individual relationships with dance and movement, as well as in encounters with traditional dance, which introduced a cultural context. A valuable field of exchange also emerged through our personal artistic practices and the different ways of understanding the origins and sources of movement. In this way, the residency became not only a space for meeting and dialogue but also a laboratory, where shared practices allowed for an in-depth exploration of identity, tradition, and the possibilities of co-creation.
residents Aslı Bostancı, Melih Kıraç, Omar Karabulut
Thanks for support to prof. dr Tuğçe Ulugün Tuna, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Akbank Sanat
Istanbul/Türkiye December 2024
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Scoria
The performance explores the theme of darkness as a space of acceptance, closeness, and transformation. Human and nonhuman forms intertwine, revealing darkness as a source of courage, strength, and a new perspective on reality. It is a journey in which darkness ceases to be merely the absence of light, becoming a field of new discoveries and understanding. Scoria, a remnant of volcanic eruptions, symbolizes the process of transformation. In this creative, movement-based exploration, it was the volcanic processes that inspired the discovery and exploration of relationships within the realm of darkness.
choreography Omar Karabulut
creation and performance Maja Gajzmer, Kinga Łotysz, Lidia Zygadło
assistant choreographer Marcelina Jasińska
music Maciej Henel-Celis
lighting direction Michał Wawrzyniak
production ARToffNIA Dance and Art Foundation
premiere October 23, 2024, Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Olsztyn
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A choreographic residency at the Węgorzewo Cultural Center
The choreographic residency was a journey into the world of coexistence and dialogue with the matter of water and its various states of matter. For a week, we followed our own needs, jointly exploring the dynamics of working with objects, sharing choreographic and movement strategies. At the same time, we discovered new directions and potential for further work. This was not a process of "observing from the outside," but rather an immersion in choreographic symbiosis.
A choreographic residency was held at the Węgorzewo Cultural Center
thanks to Przestrzenie Sztuki Taniec in Białystok.
residents Katarzyna Kania, Omar Karabulut
Wegorzewo/ Poland, September 2024
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This page presents Omar’s artistic activities since the beginning of 2024, reflecting the current direction of his creative exploration. Earlier, he developed primarily as a dancer, collaborating with Jacek Łumiński on the performances Przejścia, CPH4, and Wrócę tu po swoje serce, as well as with Maciej Kuźmiński on Plateau, event horizon - awarded at the Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition - and Every Minute Motherland. At the same time, he co-founded Vagabond Physical Collective, with which he created performances such as Lorem Ipsum, A funeral concert for six dancers, and Co tu tak dudni?. His first solo work, Terminal B, received the First Prize at the 3...2...1...DANCE! choreographic competition during the Kraków Dance Festival, marking the beginning of his independent artistic path. Since then, he has been developing his choreographic practice, creating choreographic works within the Spaces of Art - Dance program in Katowice, as well as through his work at the Dance Department of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he created, among others, the graduation performance Low States.
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