The only thing better than seeing PechaKucha Night take place in a new city is to get an enthusiastic response from organizers, as well as from all the live tweets — the latter has turned into a spectator sport here at PKN HQ. Providence had its inaugural edition just over a week ago, and organizer Stephanie Gerson has the following report for us.
On the eve of March 11, 2009, in the basement of Local 121, transpired the first ever PechaKucha Night in Providence, Rhode Island. What a gorgeous success it was! Leading up to the event, with zero presenters stepping up, I thought it would be only a few friends and I at the first event. All good, I figured, we’d have somewhat of a private PechaKucha — you know, as a test run. But in the week beforehand, the lineup for March not only filled up, but started spilling into April. And by the end of the night of the first event, April’s lineup was already full and people were signing up for May. Not to mention the sizeable turnout at the first event, the owner of the venue asking us when we’d do it again, and getting word that David Cicilline, the mayor of Providence, would be attending next month’s. Clearly Providence was overripe for PechaKucha.
There was an impressive diversity of presentations. To describe a few, Maia Small and Andrew Thurlow of Thurlow Small Architecture went with the theme, which was (fittingly) “beginnings,” and presented original sources of inspiration for a few of their projects. In seeking to design a space which would enable different functions in different areas, they looked to the branching structure of chives. And for a space that lured people off of a main thoroughfare and into an enclosed location, they looked to whirpools. Maia and Andrew demonstrated the ability to reduce an intended design to its most basic function, and then find a suitable source of inspiration.
John Speck mesmerized the crowd with 20 views of the Apex building, the DMV in downtown Pawtucket, which is the town next door to Providence. He took us from sunrise to sunset, showing how the Apex building is at times a bothersome eyesore, at times a solemn temple, but always a forceful presence in the visual landscape. Humorous and poetic, he made us laugh and he made us cry. Ok he didn’t make us cry, but made us want to have a PechaKucha Night at the Apex building. Or at least, somewhere with a view of it.
Re-capturing our attention after intermission was Damian Ewens with his critique of public school education in the US. Pacing around the floor, he showed us what a typical entrance to a highschool looks like; like an entrance to a prison or other controlled facility. He showed us what the typical highschool classroom looks like, with all desks facing forward towards the teacher, versus what a highschool classroom could look like, as contextualized hands-on learning. And he introduced us to Big Picture Learning.
Next month’s event will be on Earth Day, April 22nd, and the theme (again fittingly) is “green.”
