HyperZone
The HyperZone Exhibition (August 2009), was held at the WhiteSpace Gallery in Bangkok.
The exhibition featured 45 photographs that were shot in a burnt out building that was destroyed in the Bangkok riots of 1992.
Bangkok flashbacks & shots from the edge by OLIVIER PIN-FAT and BEE
In 1994 Hyper Magazine commissioned Olivier to shoot a series of photographs of an English DJ/musician who at the time was co-hosting a radio show with Wasanna Wirachartplee called ‘Radioactive’.
The interview was by Scottish-Canadian writer Jim Algie, who would later go on to become the ambassador to Thailand’s bizarre subculture and perversely spellbinding underbelly. What was originally intended to be a three-page feature ended up being the cover of the magazine and taking up 12 pages.
Review from a Bangkok Newspaper
‘Olivier and Bee spontaneously created the concept ‘on sight’ – given a real gun, Bee ‘let go’ of all inhibitions and run amok within the confines of utter dereliction. The series of stills, oftentimes running cinematically, is from this session. More than simple ‘fashion photography’, what we end up seeing here is a complete portrait of Bee in 1994. That is to say, frayed, raw, and energized. And through visual implication, a parallel portrait of Bangkok of the early nineties – open, bleeding, ready, contradictory, exposed, and on the edge. A city on the cusp of enormous change.’
Back then Bangkok was a very different city. Apart from the obvious structural differences like fewer high-rise buildings, no skytrain or underground, there were numerous unseen elements missing like information highways, digital and wireless technologies, even cellular phones weren’t on hand to the average Joe. Around the same time that people started to speak of a new space age communication tool that broke down borders and allowed people to share information in milliseconds, a wave of subculture swept thru Bangkok like a Tsunami of ‘cool’ changing everything that was to come afterwards.
That ‘new wave’ was spearheaded by people like DJ Wasanna and Bee, who turned Thais on to new groups like The Manic Street Preachers, Radiohead, Suede, and Oasis. There were also magazines like Hyper, Caravan, and Generation Terrorist that were the first of their kind and became research tools and style guides for the new generation of turned on Thai youth.
HyperZone
Credits
Olivier Pin-Fat
Olivier Pin-Fat was born in England in 1969 to immigrant parents. He left Great Britain on a one way ticket to Bangkok at the age of 23 to pursue (‘photographic’) engagements with the ‘unknown’. From 1998 until 2008, he was a member of ‘Gallery VU’ and ‘Agence VU’ in Paris.His work has been exhibited widely in Europe and Asia.
In May 2009, his book “DEAD LIGHT, BONE DRY” was shortlisted for “The European Publishers Award for Photography”.
Jim Algie
The books of Jim Algie include the acclaimed non-fiction collection Bizarre Thailand: Tales of Crime, Sex and Black Magic and The Phantom Lover and Other Thrilling Tales of Thailand, which also includes several of his prize-winning stories, including “The Death Kiss of the King Cobra Show” which was a co-recipient of the Bram Stoker Award. Jim was chief editor and senior writer of Southeast Asia’s most gonzo publication, Farang Untamed Travel magazine, and contributed to many global publications like The International Herald Tribune and CNN.com
The Hyper article was produced & dreamt up by Khun Mem (Veeraporn Nitiprapha) https://www.facebook.com/veeraporn.nitiprapha
