Today I received a press-release about what looks like a wonderful exhibition on Bangkok shophouses due to be held in August. Here are some extracts from the release:

Peter Nitsch: SHOPHOUSES – 4 x 8 m Bangkok

The city as a living space, and that with its related concept of urbanism as a social phenomenon that according to Louis Wirth describes the rationalised lifestyle of urban people in comparison to the provinciality of rural inhabitants, is among the great themes of contemporary photography. Barely uttered, the “magic word” creates in our minds large pictures in which develop the technological aesthetic of urban-building excesses in globalised mega-cities. What we often forget in this respect is a second dimension of urbanism, which embraces the coexistence of various types of people, each with their own identity, in a limited living space. With his SHOPHOUSES – 4 x 8 m Bangkok series of works, Nitsch focuses precisely on this dimension. Beyond the skyscrapers and neon signs, which also increasingly oust the traditional cityscape of Bangkok, the photographer-artist, who was born in Germany in 1973, grants us an intimate view of the retail businesses that are typical of Southeast Asia and the lives of their owners. For many of them the mostly two-storey shop, that on the lower level is open to the street, is workplace and living space in one. Thus Nitsch’s photographs condense entire lifestyles in cramped surrounding that are often crammed full to the last centimetre and nevertheless radiate an almost meditative peace. …

Peter Nitsch co-founder of the “Playboard Magazine”, “ADDICTED TO SNOW”, “rupa design” and “rupa media”, has won several international awards both as designer (New York Festival, BDA …) and photographer (Los Angeles International Photography Award, Hasselblad Masters semifinalist …). His work as designer has been in the area of Print and On Air Design for clients such as Universal Studios, ProSieben, 13th Street, SciFi Channel and United Nations.

Peter Nitsch is among the advanced representatives of documentary photographic art in Germany. The cultural process of upheaval in Southeast Asia and especially the conflict between Thai identity and the globalised living conditions in the region are focuses of his photographic work. Nitsch lives and works in Munich and Bangkok.

Kathmandu Gallery
87 Pan Road, Silom (near Indian Temple)
10500 Bangkok

Pre-Opening
07.08.2010 (from 6.30 – 9 pm)

Exhibition
07.08.2010 – 26.09.2010