Creative visionaries unite to share ideas

FRIDAY, OCT. 26: Visual artists are to gather to present “out-of-the-box” creative ideas designed to boost the island.

Urban planner Aideen Ratteray Pryse, and architect Nicky Gurret have organized the event titled PechaKucha Night — its name deriving from the Japanese term for “chit chat”.

PechaKucha Night was founded in Tokyo in 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network and show their work in public. It has since grown into a huge celebration with events popping up in hundreds of cities worldwide.

The format is called a “20x20” where 20 images are projected on a screen, each for 20 seconds, while the visionaries talk along with the images. The presentation is automated, so it is concise and rapid.

Ms Gurret said: “PechaKucha Nights were started by a pair of Tokyo-based architects who tackled the problem: ‘How do you get a bunch of visual visionaries — many of them isolated, introverted, self-employed people who tend to hunch all day behind their computers — out into meet space, communicating, drinking, networking? The solution: Give them a format and a chance to talk about their current interests and listen to others doing the same.”

She said the initial eight participants have been invited to share their ideas on “any topic of their choice for everyone to enjoy, think about, laugh at and, maybe, be inspired by.”

The confirmed presenters for the inaugural event are Nicky Gurret, Aideen Ratteray Pryse, interior designer Colleen Sinclair, landscape architect Sara Vallis, artist Calix Smith, architect David O’Beirne, filmmaker Lucinda Spurling and poet Nick Hutchings.

Each presenter will have a limit of ten minutes to present their idea — six minutes for the images and four minutes for Q&A session. The audience will be anyone and everyone in the creative industries in Bermuda as well as the general public.

Bermuda’s version of the event will take place at Daylesford Theatre (BMDS) bar on Thursday, November 1. Doors open at 6pm and the presentations start at 6.30pm.