Fun ideas need fun execution. After all, who wants to sit through a long-winded meeting and boring slides?
This is where Pecha Kucha steps in. With 20 slides for 20 seconds each, on any topic under the sun, the whole concept of presentations just got more fun.
Back in the city after a short hiatus, Pecha Kucha nights, that were restarted by Vijay Anand and Vidya Mohankumar, are conducted in 800 cities across the world.
Originally devised in Tokyo over two decades ago, the concept allows the presenter to tell a story in a succinct manner. The ideas can be anything — from yoga to jazz music and even environmental concerns. At the latest edition of Pecha Kucha that was held at Karya Space on Saturday, four speakers with interesting ideas took the floor to give the most common notions their own spin.
With art taking precedence in this edition, the evening made for some interesting conversations. Bringing the focus back on the need for cleaner public spaces was Namrata Ramaratnam of The Paintbox Chennai, a non-profit organisation that aims to bring about social responsibility by giving some of the city’s dirtiest areas a facelift. From art on public walls to poetry, Paintbox has managed to transform several areas in the city. “The Corporation, too, has been quite supportive of our work. We also hold week-long workshops with schools and colleges on the need for social responsibility. In fact, when we conducted this workshop in Erode and Salem, we realised that the children there are already quite sensitised to the issue. They actively practise composting and segregation,” said Namrata.
Highlighting the need to reclaim public spaces and the fact that art is not just for galleries was Gayatri Nair, a professional photographer and one of the organising members of the Chennai Photo Biennale. The event, that was held earlier this year, garnered mixed reactions from the public. According to Gayatri, “While some people simply walked past the art that was displayed at public places like an MRTS station and Nageswara Rao Park, there were others who stopped to have a conversation on what was on display.”
Taking the talk further was R.S. Ramkumar, a 48-year-old consultant, who began learning Bharatanatyam at the age of 35. While he says he began classes , “as a way to get in touch with his spiritual side”, his talk was focussed on how dance is not just about the female form and beauty. “It is also about structure. There are so many correlations between the art form and say architecture or engineering. It’s a matter of perception. People are often mistaken that Bharatanatyam lends effeminate characteristics to a man. That is definitely not the case,” he explained, even as curious members of the audience quizzed him on what it took to learn dance.
Breaking away from art was Santosh Kumar, an entrepreneur and travel enthusiast, who used the platform to share his travelogue on Bhutan. “I decided to do this trip after reading The Geography of Bliss . The book listed the Himalayan kingdom as one of the happiest countries in the world. My trip was about discovering what made Bhutan such a happy country,” he said. And what did he find? “Its people. The love they share.”
