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DJ Mike “The Butcher” Allin

Born in London a LONG time ago Mike was subjected to a mix of musical influences ranging from Rock to Soul, Reggae, Blue Beat & Ska. Seduced by the sounds of New York, Detroit, Philadelphia and beyond he has put together a collection of US soul, funk, disco & jazz that is the envy of his peers in the DJ world.

Entry will be free to guests — first come, first serve.

Hennessy VS is known for introducing the refined taste of superior French Cognac to a global audience. WTF Gallery & Cafe is known for it innovative, yet classically executed cocktails* and for it’s adventurous art and culture programming.  

On  March 15th Hennessy VS and WTF will be launched a monthly cocktail and music series: Very Special Sounds. A special menu of cocktails developed by WTF and featuring Hennessy VS will be on offer — with recipes for customers to take away. Each month DJs and live musicians will perform undiscovered genres, new takes on classic tunes and show off  impeccable tastes. The evenings, like the flavors of Hennessy itself, will be a "BOLD, yet HARMONIOUS BLEND… with DELICATE NUANCES.” Each night will be an intimate celebration of special flavours, specials sounds and special company.

FREE ENTRANCE

Join us for a block party. A cross between temple fair and Brooklyn street corner; music, food, beer. Wear shorts; beach in the city. And to thank the neighbors for putting up with us.

- Joe Sloane sausages

- Thai snacks

- Local Artisnal Beer by Siam Brewery

- Art Therapy by Dr Kathy MaCleod 8-10pm

- 5 Short Film Screening at 6pm at Opposite (synopsis below)

- Satirical Exhibition by Facebook Activists

- Morlam street music by Maft Sai & Masa Niwayama 4-9pm

- Late night soul funk, hip hop music at Opposite by Tul Apartment Khun Pa, Mike The Butcher, Boogie G Tribute

What The Festival: SHORT FILM SCREENING 

"We’re living in a period where cinema is a product; movies are becoming more and more commercialized. Short films are one of the last real places for artistic freedom – they’re important to celebrate just for that." —Juan Solanas

To celebrate WTF’s 2nd anniversary, we have put together a selection of five short films by international and Thai filmmakers to be screened at Opposite on Saturday April 28 at 6PM

NO BIKINI, 2007, 9 mins

Directed by Claudia Morgado Escanilla

No Bikini introduces us to a young girl who defies sexual convention during her summer swim class, all beginning with an ill-fitted bathing suit. Filled with humor, this film is about defining one’s gender as well as discovering personal strength. The film went on to win many awards including Best Short at the New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

THE MAN WITHOUT A HEAD (L’HOMME SANS TÊTE), 2003, 18 mins 

Directed by Juan Solanas

With a nostalgic air, the man without a head dances with lively steps as he looks forward to a romantic rendezvous with a girl of his dream. Tonight, he will declare his love. And for such an occasion, he shall buy a head. The film won many awards around the world including the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and France’s leading award, the César.

THE SICKIE, 2006, 13 mins

Directed by Rupert Jones

When events at work prove too stressful for Douglas Knott, a diligent and extremely busy office manager, he decides to throw a sickie. Unfortunately, his attempts to enjoy a day off are soon sabotaged by the insidious voice of his conscience. Literally. It’s a sarcastic take on modern day’s workaholism. 

DOODLEBUG, 1997, 3 mins

Directed by Christopher Nolan

This early short film from the director of MEMENTO and INCEPTION was made when he was a student in London. Nolan was studying English Literature at University College London when he started to make 16mm films at the college film society, of which the surreal short DOODLEBUG was one. This early film shows the preoccupation with narrative boundaries Nolan would later explore in his feature films.

I’M FINE, 2008, 3 mins

Directed by Tanwarin Sukkapisit

This thought-provoking short film by the director of INSECT IN THE BACKARD and IT GETS BETTER won a top prize at 12th Thai Short Film and Video Festival. The film, set in front of the Democracy Monument, is a sarcastic look at Thai society, making us question the virtue of tolerance. It was one of the best films that capture Thailand’s post-coup sentiment.

It’s April — the awesome month for us in Thailand! It means Songkran and a very long holiday. But more importantly, (!!!), WTF turns two this month! It’s hard to believe that we’ve made it this far. We would not have found our place in Bangkok without all of your encouragement. To give back to our wonderful friends and fans, WTF will celebrate our 2nd anniversary by hosting Bangkok’s most creative event.

Opening Reception

The exhibition has been conceptualized over the last 6 years during his art residency programmes and participation in artistic activities throughout Europe and Asia. For this show he created over 120 interactive ceramic sculpture of human heads that were created at Thao Hong Thai ceramic factory in Ratchaburi. 

Jakraphun articulates the concept of changes in human behavior, influenced by fast moving technology through varied personas of human types presented in his sculpture and interactive elements. Inspired by the rapid increase of human’s virtual interaction with social media, rather than face-to-face, he expresses his concerns on obscurity, deception, soullessness, obsession and addiction or even the lack of good judgement that seems to flourish via these networks today.  While the real time and virtual aspects in social networks has become a crucial communication tool and beneficial to many commercial and mass information endeavors, it can also stimulate the divisions within society, often with distorted truths. Extreme opinions have been formed based on “facts” other people ‘share’, regardless of the truth or without careful examination of the origins. The question is  whether what we see or hear or have been presented by this new and dominant social world is real. How much truth is there in the faces we see in this computer-generated society? What is the real objective of each individual’s projection and statements? 

The artist incorporates his craftsmanship in individually hand painting of each sculptural heads, portraying a spectrum of varied characters, from extreme to neutral. Each head signifies a major element or player that he has witnessed in the virtual society —whether real or artificial.

Jakraphun Thanateeranon is an artist, curator, art activist and a writer. He’s been working with several youth art projects in Asia and has attended over 10 art residency programmes all over the world. The exhibition is the continuation works from his pervious shows titled 13.31 and Spirit of Japan which were created and exhibited in Japan in 2008. The content of the shows were focusing on human masks, tapping into the topics of deception vs truth, realistic vs fear, ghost vs god and religious vs belief.

The exhibition will be on view at WTF gallery from 19 April – 18 May 2012.  

Super-nice mention of WTF

Thanks, kaypachatravels.com

Speakers:

- Prapat Jiwarangsan, Artist

- Wanrug Suwanwattana, Lecturer at Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University

- Thanavi Chotpradit, MPhil/PhD in History of Art and Screen Media, Birbeck, University of London

Concept:

As the exhibition “I’ll never smile again” at WTF gallery closes at the end this month, the artist – Prapat Jiwarangsan will sit down and talk about the concept behind this show. The talk will be joined by Ms. Wanrug Suwanwattana, a lecturer at the Faculty of Liberal Arts of Thammasat University and Ms Thanavi Chotpradit, MPhil/PhD in History of Art and Screen Media, Birkbeck, University of London. The topic of the discussion will be “Fear” in our society and how it greatly affects art and cultural realm in Thailand. The speakers will also discuss how artists who work in Thailand should handle this fear and be able to express and criticize — which is the function of art in society.

The talk will be in Thai with consecutive translation to English.

Entrance is free with refreshments.

About I’ll Never Smile again:

I’LL NEVER SMILE AGAIN is an exhibition that conjoins the past of two places, of which the artist came across while studying Master’s Degree at the Royal College of Art, London. The showcase of collective information, namely photographs, books, and places, from the Office of Educational Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy, London, UK, conclusively became ‘The Impossible Dream’ exhibition.’ This conceptual idea has been inspired from the conversation between two artists(Pathompon Tesprateep and Prapat Jiwarangsan) discussing about the impact of conflict and the instability of the situation in the country in the past several years, together with some doubts in the political and sociocultural evolution, which leads to the representation as a conceptual art. Although, the historical evidence may not be the most significant factor, it provides us a good opportunity to review and to be aware of the existence as well as things that are missing; things we used to have and anything that is probably going to happen. Metaphorically speaking, this conceptual work aims to reach the invisible barrier between the belief in society and the thing that controls the direction of our social movement.

Data linked from the prior exhibition have been passed on to the homeland of the artist. Searching for truth isn’t the objective. What’s really matter are critical discourse inquiry, comparison, change of the outlook, understanding matters which are beyond your prediction and the value of being human, as well as the subjects which are acclaimed to be above humans . Whether for you to understand or to be able to interpret the message clearly depends largely on the ability to perceive dimensional art. All matters shown here are for you to consider whether you can still smile at these fictions.

Visitor Information

Opening times: Tuesday – Sunday, 4-10pm

Free Admission

WTF Café & Gallery

7 Sukhumvit Soi 51, Wattana, Klongton-Nua, Bangkok 10110

www.wtfbangkok.com

BTS: Thonglor 

For further information please contact:

Somrak Sila – Managing Director

Tel: (66) 2 662 6246, (66) 89 926 5474

Email: somrak@wtfbangkok.com

Thursday March 15th
8pm

Hennessy Cocktails: from classic to Thai inspired
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DJ Maft Sai: Spiritual Jazz— From his rare all-vinyl jazz collection

Entry will be free to guests — first come, first serve.

Hennessy VS is known for introducing the refined taste of superior French Cognac to a global audience. WTF Gallery & Cafe is known for it innovative, yet classically executed cocktails* and for it’s adventurous art and culture programming.

Starting on March 15th Hennessy VS and WTF will be launching a monthly cocktail and music series: Very Special Sounds. A special menu of cocktails developed by WTF and featuring Hennessy VS will be on offer — with recipes for customers to take away. Each month DJs and live musicians will perform undiscovered genres, new takes on classic tunes and show off  impeccable tastes. The evenings, like the flavors of Hennessy itself, will be a "BOLD, yet HARMONIOUS BLEND… with DELICATE NUANCES.” Each night will be an intimate celebration of special flavours, specials sounds and special company.

Current Schedule:

March 15th

DJ Maft Sai: Spiritual Jazz— From his rare all-vinyl Jazz collection: Archie Shepp, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Dorothy Ashby, Norman Conners, Don Cherry, Steve Reid, Moondog and the like. (In the 1960’s jazz musicians began to explore new thematic and musical ideas, often associated with non-western religious and musical traditions. The new ’spiritual jazz’ became a vehicle for exploring new musical and non-musical concepts, as well as for extended self-expression, laying bare "a mirror into the self.”)