Olivier Zahm: Digital Provocateur

Online impresarios Olivier Zahm and Miltos Manetas get philosophical about the boundless possibilities of the web in today’s featured short, Internet is a Desert. Shot by Can Evgin, the film is set in the appropriately chaotic city of Istanbul. Paris native Zahm is the editor of fashion and art biannual Purple Magazine and the blog Purple Diary, a photo journal documenting Zahm’s libertine life and the beau monde who populate it. The work of Greek artist Manetas embraces the online mediums of social networking and microsites: a recent project on Facebook titled Money Is a Cigarette sees him giving away a third of his monthly earnings to the person who guesses its correct value. “The Internet is the last remaining place still free from the professional establishment,” says Evgin. “The film is the study of this idea.” The short makes its online debut today on NOWNESS, and was staged for the premier issue of the recently launched POST, the first magazine published exclusively on the iPad. “We have taken out the printed matter and what we are left with are the possibilities,” explains art director and founder Remi Paringaux of the groundbreaking title, published by Alex Dellal with Xerxes Cook at the editorial helm. “It is dematerialization as a theme.” To see part two of Evgin's film with Zahm and Manetas, visit Purple Diary.