I attended my first Pechakucha in Tokyo last year, and was introduced to a revolutionary new format for architectural presentations: 20 images, 20 seconds each. Abbreviated pronouncements and diverse presenters are hallmarks of Pechakucha nights, now held around the world. Their popularity was evidenced by the line around the block for Pechakucha New York last month.
The doors of the historic St. Marks Church were closed in the faces of so many eager young architects when the event reached capacity. The lucky ones to make it in were treated to a Smorgasbord of presentation styles and designs, sometimes engaging, sometimes inspiring, and sometimes incomprehensible. And the incomprehensible presentations were not due to the poor acoustics of the chapel space.
Jessica Root from Treehugger delighted the audience with images of earth friendly sex toys, and some solar panels and windmills of course. 2×4‘s t-shirt store project was another crowd-pleaser, although someone forgot to remind this firm (and Enrique Norten) about the 20 slide rule. Or the organizer couldn’t find a shepard’s crook to drag them offstage when their presentation time ran out.
Mariah Robertson‘s purposefully disheveled performance piece titled “Neuroplasticity & the Perception of Time and Space” was an enjoyable mockery of the time limitation, employing a soundtrack of annoying “slide change” beeps to move everything along. She has also rediscovered the delights of the overhead slide projector – a nice display method that really worked in the barrel-vaulted space. The prize for “The Most Flagrant Use of Architectural Terminology” goes to Andrew Zago from Zago Architecture, for inventing a total of 34 words during the course of his seven minute presentation.
Good things came to those who patiently waited it out, because around ten o’clock Annie Choi, the infamous author of a scathing open letter to architects, took the stage and presented a series of responses to her letter from both enemies and fans. A snapshot of one of the criticisms is here (via PechakuchaNY), and more can be found on her website.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
