Last Thursday, at a tightly packed Kino Europa, the ninth Zagreb PechaKucha Night was held, gathering creative people from different fields of activity to present themselves through the format of quick PechaKucha presentations. Let us recall that PechaKucha Nights are informal presentations of limited duration, where every presenter can use precisely 20 images and has 20 seconds to tell a story about each one of them, that is, has precisely six minutes and forty seconds of fame before it’s time for the next presenter.
We have organized the Zagreb PechaKucha Nights, taking place four times a year for two and a half years now, together with 3LHD, Komakino and Lana Cavar. Even though admission to this event is usually free, and the audience continually grows larger, this is the second time that everything took place for a humanitarian cause, and almost HRK 15,000 were raised from ticket sales, with the proceeds going to the organization Architecture for Humanity for reconstruction of the affected areas of Japan. It’s a global action that a great number of PechaKucha cities joined in order to help the PechaKucha country of origin over several days under the motto Inspire Japan.
Eleven presenters followed an introductory warm-up of the audience and the hall by the Bambi Molesters, performing exceptionally on this humanitarian occasion. Some presenters talked about subjects which were in some way related to the current events in Japan, like architect Damjan Geber who spoke about his experiences when working with Architects without Borders in Japan. Croatian Greenpeacer Julio Žuvela then told anecdotes about his work with the Rainbow Warriors, the most enterprising group of Greenpeace activists, gaining the greatest favor with the audience. Thanks to visual communications designer Damir Bralić, the audience also had a direct link to Japan since he held his presentation in form of a conversation with his colleague Aleksandar Kovač, on a doctoral course in Kyoto.
Guys from the Rijeka Streetzine presented their unique project for a fanzine that was not printed or distributed like a classic fanzine, but had a copy of each page posted on a wall in the very center of the city of Rijeka, on Kružna Ulica, near the legendary Palach Club. They are also authors of the illustration and posters for this edition of the PechaKucha.
As to theatre artists, award-winning director Bobo Jelčić presented a joint project with Nataša Rajković – Store Window. From the ranks of visual artists, presentations were made by Vedran Perkov from Split, and Alen Alebić, Ivica Blažić and Ivan Skvrce from the ABS Group, who appeared with a presentation of their proclamation reading performance in their usual conceptualist manner. As to designers, there was Tomislav Zidar, known as Djuvedj, with Jobotichi, an unusual blend of jewelry and mini-robots made of just about anything that can be recycled. Fashion design was represented by much praised Andreja Bistričić. Presentations by young director Nevio Marasović, award-winner for the Pula Film Festival last year, instructing the audience on how to make a movie with no budget, and a presentation by architect Idis Turato closed the program.
A special item of interest and a novelty at this PechaKucha was a Twitter Wall displayed on a cinema screen showing comments and questions about the presentations being asked by people inside, but also outside the hall, using the Twitter social network. In this way, free Wi-Fi in the hall, made possible by the main sponsor Tele2, was put to the best use. The event was hosted by actor Damir Markovina, himself one of the presenters at the previous PechaKucha. As usual, chit chat that followed the presentations went on until late at night with DJ Pytzek.
This time around, thanks to Tele2, we also had a Facebook tab with information about presenters, where you will soon be able to watch presentation videos. In addition to Facebook, you can also follow PechaKucha Zagreb on Twitter or by subscribing to the newsletter at the global PKN website.
Thanks: Tele2; Hrvoje, Bojan, Selma, Ivan (Kino Europa); Martina, Siniša (AVC), the culture ministry and city culture; Zoki, Pjero, Kristinka, Miss Sanja (P)Tica, Srđana, Dijana, Danica, Martina, Jelena, Klara PechaKuchanica, Mario from Rezolucija, Mato from M Stage, Pytzek, camera operators Ivan, Eva and Domagoj, Damir Markovina, the host of the evening, Sretan Bor for illustration and design, and, of course, the greatest thanks to the Bambi Molesters, all presenters and the audience <3
Photo: Domagoj Kunić
Production and Public Relations: Jelena Mihelčić
Technical support: Zoran Vujić
Audio-video production: AVC Zagreb, Kino Europa, M stage
Visual identity: Sretan bor
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Video presentations are now online. You can watch them either through the Facebook Tab or the PechaKucha Zagreb YouTube channel.
