We all cha cha for Pecha Kucha
Unique creative event lands in Columbus
By Liza Alwes |
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Photo by Kevin Fox It is a calm early Thursday evening in Franklinton, about seven o'clock. Inside a Rich Street warehouse - a warehouse that has seen better days, both as an industrial property and as a studio space for artists - something is happening. More precisely, Pecha Kucha is happening.
Pecha Kucha, Japanese for "chit chat," is difficult to pronounce (peh-CHAK-cha), let alone describe. The official website describes it as "an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public." It's based on a simple but demanding presentation format: each presenter offers a sequence of 20 images. Images are projected on a screen and move forward automatically at the rate of one image per twenty seconds. Altogether, each presenter has exactly six minutes and fourty seconds to present, forcing him or her to be organized and concise.
The first such event was organized in Tokyo by architects; now it takes place in over 300 cities around the world. Despite it's world-wide appeal, Pecha Kucha remains a grassroots phenomenon, and each event is shaped by the city it takes place in and the goals of the organizers and the community.
Much more than a networking event for designers, Pecha Kucha Columbus is an all-out cultural event. Blocks of presentations are sandwiched between leisurely breaks for the 350 attendees to have conversations, meet new people, listen to music, look at art, and enjoy food and beer. The most recent event featured on-site screenprinting by ThoughtCo, cupcakes and strawberry shortcakes from Cambridge Tea House, tacos from Junior's Tacos, art from the Urban Scrawl Festival, and music performed by Max Power Trio and the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus.
"It's a lively, fun, and interesting way to bring creative-minded people together in an urban atmosphere with all different elements of urban culture," said Alexandra Kelley, a member of the Columbus PK organizing team. "When you bring people together and invite them to share their lives and what moves them and sprinkle it with music and food and art, it's great. It's a kind of explosion of all of these different creative elements of Columbus."
Presentations cover a broad range of topics. Local food blogger Bethia Woolf presented her quest to explore and document the world of Columbus taco trucks. Matt Kish, a librarian, presented his quest to illustrate Moby Dick, one page at a time, at the rate of one illustration per day. Musician Jim Maneri offered a breathlessly fast-paced homage to the bizarre places in Columbus. Olivera Bratich, owner of the Clintonville staple Wholly Craft!, discussed the intersection of feminism, craft, and capitalism and things she's learned in her quest to run a profitable and ideologically-sound business.
Anyone can apply to present by emailing the PK Columbus organizing team (columbuspk@gmail.com) - the only prerequisite is that you be interesting.
"We look for people who are fun and different and spirited and interesting - sometimes humorous, sometimes passionate and serious, really people who have a story to tell," said Kelley, who describes PK as a source of energy, excitement and movement.
As the evening winds down around ten, a massive green dragonfly is buzzing around the fluorescent light that starkly illuminates the warehouse room packed with people and lined with art.
As several hundred Columbusites disperse into the twilight after a three-hour immersion in the diversity of the local creative culture, it's easy to see how the energy generated in a dusky warehouse by a group of community-minded creative people might set new endeavors in motion.
For more information, visit www.pecha-kucha.org/night/columbus, or email columbuspk@gmail.com to be considered as a presenter. The next event will be August 12.
Originally Published: July 1, 2010
