Since originating in Tokyo in 2003, the
Pecha Kucha concept has spread to more than 260 cities around the world, including Pittsburgh.
And what concept is that? Creative types gather; creative types talk. Each person presents 20 slides of their work, and gets 20 seconds to talk about each slide. The dialogue is structured, but for all the confines, there's a lot of fun to be had, and a lot of different things to be seen and said.
Pittsburgh has already hosted several Pecha Kucha Nights, including its first-ever at the annual Design Pittsburgh awards in October 2008. The next Pecha Kucha Night is 7 to 11 p.m., Fri., March 19 at SPACE, 812 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Presentations begin at 8 p.m.
Friday's presenters include architect Terry Oden of Rothschild Doyno Collaborative; author and educator Carrie Zuberbuhler Kennedy; interaction designer Roderick McMullen of MAYA Design; interior designers Rachel Furmanski and Lindsey Masarik; Michael Hellein, co-founder of Bearded Studio; and Adam Murray with Adam Designworks and NXUS|5 Architecture and Design.
Hosted by local AIA and AIGA chapters, the evening aspires to entertain, and also to get Pittsburgh architects, designers, artists, crafters and visual storytellers talking--not only to the audience, but with one another.
"I think that whenever you give the design community the opportunity to get together and do something together, it demonstrates how in the creative process it is wonderful to include other people," says Anne Swager with AIA . "The benefit in the long term is making new connections, and going forward, using those connections to create."
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Writer: Caralyn Green
Source: Anne Swager, executive director, AIA Pittsburgh
Photograph courtesy of AIA Pittsburgh