You Asked, Erdem Genç Answered

Entrepreneur, author, musician and photographer Erdem Genç has answered your questions. Our thanks go to Erdem Genç for his candid replies, and to you, our readers, for your interest.

CAREER AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Alkan

Don’t you have trouble concentrating when you work in so many different fields? Do you deal with all of them at once, or do you spread them over the year?

Ferman

You have a fine career, Erdem. But just think what gems would come out of you if you focused all that energy on one thing! What is the source of your energy? How do you keep up with it all? How many hours do you sleep?

To be honest, I sometimes wonder myself, “Wouldn’t it be better if I focused on just one thing?” Even so, I feel the urge to work on many things at once, and I love being this busy. I suppose the source of this energy is my love for my work and for art. I don’t think anyone can be particularly productive at anything without loving it and enjoying it. Whatever we do, we need to find the beautiful side of it.

A friend of mine who read this question told me to answer, “I do yoga; an hour a day is enough.” On the whole I sleep as much as anyone else. But some days, when work is intense or there is a project that has to be finished, going without sleep is necessary too. There have even been times when I didn’t want to cut the fun short and went to work without sleeping at all. I suppose the secret of a constitution that can stand this is regular exercise.

At a seminar I attended abroad I learned that, for an ideal life, you have to strive for excellence in four areas: body, mind, emotions and soul. Sporting activities are what develop our body. Our mind is developed by things like reading, brain-teasers and mathematics. Our emotions are nourished by outwardly expressive activities such as falling in love, dancing and playing percussion; our soul, by inward activities such as music and the other arts. Of course, some activities involve more than one of these. When you play percussion, for example, you are engaged in an artistic activity, you are expending a great deal of effort, and the mathematics it contains keeps your mind active too. I try to develop myself in all four of these areas; but I still have a long way to go.

Editorial

Entrepreneur at a young age, social entrepreneur, musician, author… Isn’t it hard to carry so many business cards at once? How do you strike the balance?

It’s hard, but tremendously enjoyable. As for keeping the balance: business life has its set patterns — meetings that have to be held, phone calls that have to be answered, reports that have to be submitted… Once I have done those on time, I use whatever time is left however I feel like, in whichever direction inspiration blows. There is a constant busyness, a constant state of having things to do, and I’m very happy with that. Outlook on my PC and phone is my most important assistant; it makes a huge contribution to keeping work, private life and artistic projects from clashing and to getting them all planned.

Kürşad Altaylı

Hello Erdem Bey. Today we have thousands of unemployed university graduates. And yet (pardon the expression) you and young people like you, whom I would describe as crazy and at the same time formidable, find a place for yourselves in the market with great ease. Could we say the reason is that going to university is not just about studying, and that during our university years we need to make good use of social media for our careers?

Thank you — but please pardon my expression too: it is not possible to find a place for yourself in the market “with great ease”. Every job has its own difficulties and, believe me, you have to work very hard. Nobody says, “Come along, you’re good enough, let me give you a job,” or “Your idea is superb, let me invest.” Everybody has good ideas, and “superb” projects could come out of many of them. But we know only a few people as “successful”. That is because they gritted their teeth and worked, got their ideas accepted one way or another, and made headway, however little.

University is of course, as you say, not four walls we go in and out of for lectures. It is a wonderful environment where we set our ideas free and find ourselves. I was one of the luckiest in this respect: I studied at Yıldız Technical University. YTÜ is a very sociable university. I was in and out of many clubs; I took part in many projects. Simulations of much of what happens in the business world or the art world take place in these clubs. You learn about human relations as well. That is why I think student clubs are very beneficial.

As you say, using social media is very important too. But you will only see the benefit when you ground it in “offline” settings, on real-world foundations.

Aslı Görücüler

A perfect career… I suppose you achieve everything you dream of. So do you have a dream that is hard to reach? A fantastical dream…

Thank you. The things I have achieved so far were once hard-to-reach dreams too. Some people dream; I prefer to say that I make plans. The dreams I have sometimes turn into a short story, sometimes into a melody, and sometimes they form the script of a staged photograph. And sometimes they turn into plans.

That must be the most enjoyable part of working in the arts: being able to turn the dreams you live into things that can be touched!

At the end of every year I assess my plans for the past year in my diary. Then I write down what I plan to do in the year ahead.

A journey into space and my work achieving very great international success are, I suppose, my most fantastical dreams. I hope that one day they will take their place among my plans and my realities.

Kutay Yamacı

You studied mechanical engineering but you are involved in different fields such as media marketing, music and writing. What were your dreams while you were studying mechanical engineering, and why did you choose it?

You know how people always say, “so many doctors, so many engineers asked for her hand”. Those two are the most respected professions in our country. And when my family wouldn’t let me go to the conservatoire, I decided to take this route. Well, I can’t be a doctor, I don’t like blood. So I said I might as well be an engineer.

My family have always supported me. It was just that, with classic Turkish family logic, they thought, “Have a golden bracelet on your arm” — a proper trade to fall back on. They saw my other pursuits as hobbies; but when those turned into a profession they carried on supporting me.

Although university is the most widely recognised form of education, it is not the only way. Education matters enormously in every field. I have taken lessons in many subjects from experts and from people I trust; I have attended the workshops of masters. I still can’t wait to take part in new training and to gain experiences I have never had.

The first of the events I organised took place in my first year at university. In other words, I had started doing the things I wanted to do while I was still studying. Perhaps that is why my first-year report (transcript), which read “high honours”, was followed by reports reading “satisfactory” and then “grade average warning”.

Ebru Acarlar

You have a CV I greatly envy, congratulations. Have you ever worked as a mechanical engineer? Are you thinking of doing so again? May your success continue.

Thank you. Apart from internships, I haven’t. The factory I worked at was in Sefaköy. To catch the staff shuttle in Merter at 7, I had to leave home at 6. After a working day that started at 8 and finished at 6 in the evening, the traffic meant I could only be home at around 7.30-8. To get up at 5.30 you have to go to bed at 23:30. In the two or three hours left after dinner, was I going to watch television, read a book, take part in social activities, or spend time with my girlfriend…? And so I gave up on mechanical engineering anyway. I’m not planning to go back to it for the time being; but one should never say never about anything.

Selin

You are involved in more than one field. Which one defines you best?

They are all a part of me, really. I think they complement one another. Let me give an example: a few months ago we went on a tour of Turkey with my band. I took plenty of photographs and, chatting with the people I photographed, I had the chance to learn many life stories. Another example: I drew on my photographs to remember the details of the descriptions in the Büyükada story in the book. I don’t think these things are all that separate from one another; but from time to time it is necessary to give one more weight than another. Who knows, perhaps one day I will choose just one and carry on down that road.

Nesrin Kuloğlu

I adore the work you do and your pace. We would love to see you as a speaker at our university :) (Bilkent)

Thank you. In fact, for the past two years I have been coming to Genç Akademi as a percussion instructor with M3 Ritm Atölyesi (the M3 Rhythm Workshop), as a guest of the Operational Research Club. I would of course be glad to be your guest on other subjects of your choosing too.

Arif Nedim

How do you see the future of internet entrepreneurship in Turkey? Will internet projects that can measure up to their international counterparts come out of our country too?

Terrific projects are appearing all the time. The reputation of projects such as Grou.ps, Marro.ws and Yoggurt has already spilled over into the international market. Internet entrepreneurship suits the nature of Turkish entrepreneurship very well, both in terms of start-up costs and in terms of knowledge capital, and I think that in future we will have many world-famous companies.

M3 WORKS AND RITMBOX

Sibel

You are very successful, congratulations. I follow Uniaktivite closely but this is the first I have heard of your other projects. Could you tell us a little about your M3 Works projects?

Thank you. M3 Works is a company that offers teamwork and motivation training to companies. This training is mostly arts-based: percussion, choir, dance, painting, photography, theatre, writing. We also have other games, such as treasure hunts and racing cars. For detailed information you can visit our website: www.m3.com.tr

Ritmbox, meanwhile, is M3 Works’ registered instrument brand, and we use Ritmbox instruments in all our percussion work. At M3 Ritm Atölyesi we have three different workshops: motivation, performance and open workshops. In the motivation workshop we run a rhythm workshop for groups all at once, with no limit on numbers (from 5 people to 5,000). In the performance workshop we prepare groups of 2-50 people for a concert/performance and get them up on stage. In the open workshop we set up a rhythm area at events such as festivals and fairs and run rhythm workshops for constantly changing groups. For detailed information: www.ritmbox.com

Ali Soydas

The video with the barrels is great fun, congratulations. Are you thinking of doing a full-length show like Stomp?

Thank you, we enjoyed playing it very much too. That show was prepared specially for Algida’s launch night this year. The performance itself, at a hotel in Antalya, was far more spectacular and longer. We’ll be sharing that video soon as well.

Apart from this show, we have done other pieces in which we used materials and products other than percussion instruments. When the right conditions arise, we would of course love to do a full-length show.

Elifsu Sarıer

Why aren’t you on campuses with M3 Works? Or are you, and I just haven’t heard?

We’re at Koçfest now. In April and May last year we went on a tour covering ten universities together with Mor ve Ötesi. It was great fun, and this year we want to take part in more festivals.

THE BOOK DEBUT

Asuman

I haven’t bought the book yet but I read the piece in Cumhuriyet. The page numbers running backwards is very clever. Is there a reason for it, or is it just to be different?

I’m sure it happens to you: you start a book, you like the plot and carry on, then at some point it gets stuck — in fact, it has to be admitted, you find yourself struggling to read it. I’m one of those who read to the end even then. At times like that I check every so often how many pages the book has, subtract the page I’m on, try to work out how many are left, and console myself. The page numbers were put in reverse order so that nobody has to go through that. This way you always know how much is left. By the way, there are some numerical codes in the order of the stories and between the stories. Finding them is left to the reader.

Selin Tatlı

The guest is wonderful. The interview format is very successful. Congratulations to both sides. I read the piece in Cumhuriyet too — superb. I’ll be buying the book in the next few days. My question is this: Erdem Bey, how do you manage both to keep your intellectual interests alive and to be a good entrepreneur? Usually it’s one or the other.

Thank you. Actually, I put this down entirely to being an entrepreneur. You can of course pursue artistic activities without owning your own business, but when you are in control you can organise your time better. Besides, the motto of M3 Works, where I serve as general coordinator, is “We Bring Companies Together with Art”. We put on events for companies based on artistic workshops that include teamwork and motivation training. In other words, I have been lucky enough to turn many of my pursuits into my job at the same time.

Derya

Which writers do you admire and draw inspiration from?

For me the pinnacle of literature is Shakespeare. My favourite book, though, is Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Apart from the classics I read a great deal of fantasy fiction and horror novels and short stories. Works that show me new and extraordinary worlds appeal to me. I like contemporary writers too; in fact, some of my friends call me a “bestseller reader” because of it. Yes, maybe so; if they’re successful, why shouldn’t I read them?

Alica Sipahioğlu

Are you thinking of writing a novel? Or a film script…

The last story in Debut, “Yeni Başlayanlar İçin Rock Ortamları” (The Rock Scene for Beginners), is actually listed in the “Contents” with “Novel Demo” in brackets. I am writing a novel on the same subject. For now I can’t tell when it will be finished. I have never thought of writing a film script.

MUSIC

Merve

I believe there’s no album yet. Is there anything like that in the works?

With SoulShred we have a 7-track EP called “Dreams Have No Limits”, on which I am the vocalist; but because of its genre (heavy metal) it didn’t become very well known. If you’d like to listen: www.soulshred.com With Karma we have demo recordings. You can find those at www.karmaloji.com too. I hope there will be an album soon. We are also planning a percussion album with M3 Ritm Atölyesi.

Sema

After a fine demo, the band Soul Shred broke up. Are you thinking of making the band active again in the future? Although it isn’t well known, I had heard the song “Real Me” through my friends and liked it very much at the time.

This question made me happy, thank you. As I said earlier, it wasn’t a very well-known piece of work, and I was surprised that someone among One Dergi’s readers knew it. That proves once again the quality of the magazine and of its readers.

The band didn’t really break up in any planned way. With some of the members living in Çanakkale and some in Istanbul, when the guitarist also left for Bulgaria we began to be unable to produce anything. In fact, we still see each other, and we long to make a recording or play a concert together.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Bilge

Erdem Bey, I adored your portfolio. Are you thinking of holding a photography exhibition?

Thank you. As a matter of fact, an exhibition of mine opened a few months ago at the İFSAK Genç Fotoğraf Festivali (Young Photography Festival). I will also be taking part in another exhibition in March. You can follow it at www.erdemgenc.com.

Ayşegül

Is there a magazine, website or the like where you have your photographs published?

I uploaded them to various sharing sites some time ago. I haven’t updated them since. I’ll be sharing them in the photography section of my own site, which is due to be updated soon. You can also follow the exhibitions from there. In my view the most beautiful form of a photograph, even a digital one, is the print made to the quality and specifications the photographer intended. And let me share a piece of news I received today: my photographs that were placed in the Kingston Photography Competition will be published in Fotoğraf Dergisi next month.

Hilmi Eren

What does Erdem Genç watch, read and listen to? How does he feed his soul?

I like works that contain novelty and excitement. Most of all I like science-fiction and fantasy films and books. I go to the cinema very often. The film that has impressed me most recently, with its technological innovations and its world, is “Avatar”. The last book I read was Ece Erdoğuş’s novel “Kolpa”. The State Theatres’ production of Ful Yaprakları, which I went to last week, impressed me greatly with its visuals, its acting and the strength of its text.

The photography exhibition Yeni Yaklaşımlar (New Approaches), in which my teacher İzzet Keribar interpreted modern art, has just ended. When I visited him yesterday I had the chance to see his new photographs from the same series too — again very impressive. Among the young painters, I admire Tuncay Takmaz’s work very much. On their 25th anniversary album Helloween have reinterpreted their classic tracks in completely different ways; I enjoyed it immensely. And the W.A.S.P. concert was the most fun I’ve had at a concert lately.

I try to keep up with modern art events such as the Biennial and Contemporary Istanbul. I often drop in at Istanbul Modern and the exhibitions at YTÜ.

In short, I try to feed on as many sources as possible.