If you want to try your hand at something a lot harder than it sounds, figure out 20 images that sum up your life.
That’s kind of what happens at PechaKucha, the 46th Charleston version of which is slated to be at the Charleston Music Hall at 8 p.m. Sept. 5. It will offer a fast-paced slideshow of inspirations, hopes and dreams of nine Charleston-area creatives. Each will have 400 seconds – 20 slides that display for 20 seconds each – to squeeze their insights into an audience of more than 500 people.
The results often are magical as listeners get sucked into what stirs and spurs poets, writers, chefs, artists, comedians, photographers and other creatives to do what they do.
“Having been involved in pulling together our PechaKuchas for quite some time, I have been inclined to think that, upon its completion, each of our previous 45 events has merited the title of ‘The Best,’” said PK organizer Terry Fox of the Charleston Arts Festival.
The Sept. 5 event will be no exception.
“It once again is looking like an exceptional group of savvy, creative presenters,” Fox said. “Just as a sampling: We are honored to have Asiah Mae, the city’s poet laureate, mounting the Music Hall stage. In Michael Toscano and Graham Calabria, we have two dynamic young chefs with quite varied careers and approaches.”
Other presenters include:
- Lissa Frenkel, president and CEO of the Gaillard Center;
- Grace McNally, studio manager of Ohm Radio and multi-talented musician;
- Clyde Moser, actor, producer and educator;
- Domenico Ruggerio and Fotios Pantazis, who respectively are executive director and advisory board member of We Are Family; and
- Karl Zurfluh, artist, muralist and designer. He designed the PK46 poster and imagery.
Longtime DJ Josh Silverman (Professor Ping) will spin tunes. Charleston City Paper Editor and Publisher Andy Brack of PK42 will serve as emcee.
20 slides in 400 seconds
Through the years, more than 350 creative Charlestonians have waxed poetic in presentations limited to 400 seconds to describe their careers, inspirations, hopes and dreams.
What results is six minutes and 40 seconds of revealing commentaries that require presenters and audiences to relate and absorb a lot of information quickly. It’s an intellectual, artistic blast that stretches your mind and imagination.
“PechaKucha is a fun, inspiring and powerful community event,” said former participant Polly Buxton, owner of Buxton Books. “I didn’t fully grasp its importance until I had the honor of participating as a presenter and sharing the stage with such trailblazing members of our community.”
The first-ever PechaKucha, which is loosely translated as “chit-chat,” was on Feb. 20, 2003, in Tokyo. It was the brainchild of architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, who felt some of their colleagues were much too long-winded.
So they offered a quick format to speed things along but give deep insights through spoken word and visual representations. In the 21 years since PechaKucha started, there have been PK happenings in more than 1,000 cities. There are as many as 100 events each month.
Tickets are $15 plus fees for the all-ages show and can be purchased online. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. April 10 with the show starting at 8 p.m. at Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St.
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