FEATURE : Entretien avec EUGENE KAN*
I recently caught up with the managing editor of Hypebeast : Eugene Kan. As you may all know Eugene and the Hypebeast staff have been feeding us with information on art/culture/fashion/music and anything that is “cool” for the past 5 years now. I got the chance to ask him a few questions about himself and things that I consider more interesting and inspiring than the latest sneaker release.
How is life in Hong Kong at the moment?
I really can’t complain about life in Hong Kong… we’ve had un-seasonally cool temperatures meaning none of that instantaneous sweat. But just as it gets hotter and hotter, I’m on my way back to Canada soon.
Anything you miss about Canada?
Tons of things I miss about Canada like more space, a less hectic lifestyle… people that generally have respect for others, haha…things like that.
You probably get this asked a bunch of time. But tell us your main role at Hypebeast at the moment?
My role at Hypebeast is to serve as the managing editor. Basically I dabble in a bit everything from daily blogging to more behind the scenes organizational procedures.
You probably didn’t stumble into this job. How did you get there?
I started at the root of it all as a contributor. Eventually I got hired as an editor and through time I ended up as the managing editor. As cliche as it sounds, I never did think this could turn into a full-time gig but it did.
Some people recently had the chance to attend a photo exhibit curated by you at the Above Second Gallery in Hong Kong. Tell us about it and how it went down?
For a minute I had been throwing around the idea of doing a photo exhibition amongst industry friends and people who were in some way in a creative occupation but not professional photographers. How creativity transcended one medium to another was ultimately my main theme.
The title itself is very interesting. DAY JOB? Was the question mark put there on purpose for any reason?
I had a lot of corny names I had put to paper and maybe people think this one is wacky too haha, but the question mark signifies the fact that no, none of the participants maintain an occupation as a photographer and of poses the question what IS their regular job.
I also noticed that our homie NEEK was part of the photographers exhibiting. Tell us how you know him and what do you think of his contribution to the culture.
I really think that in his formative years, he really had a defining role in things that are now common within the “Internet landscape”. From cheap Levi’s STF 501′s to continually going out and shooting as a relatively early adopter with a DSLR, these are things that eventually became more mainstream.
