images taken by Prajwol Bhattarai and Sworup Ranjit @ "Envisioning Nepal in 2020" PechaKucha Night Kathmandu Vol4, 20 November 2011

KATHMANDU, Nov 22: The fourth volume of Pecha Kucha took place at the
Nepal Tourism Board, Bhrikuti Mandap, on November 20.

The theme for the night was “Envisioning Nepal in 2020” where
participants were to share their views on how they envisioned Nepal in
the year 2020 in their respective fields.

They spoke of the possibilities and threats to achieve our envisioned
Nepal and discussed how the existing shortcomings could be tackled
through collective efforts to build a better Nepal in 2020.

The participanting speakers for the event were Arpan Shrestha, Editor,
The Week, Republica; Dr. Dhrubesh Chandra Regmi, Musician, Sukarma;
Kiran Krishna Shrestha, Entrepreneur, Director, Nepalaya; Manogya
Sharma, Samriddhi Foundation; Manushi Yami Bhattarai, Youth Leader,
Secretary FSU ANNISU(R); Navin Joshi, Visual Communicator; Rajendra
Mulmi, Youth Activist, SFCG; Sailendra Dangol, Eco-Activist, Cycle
City 2020; Sangeeta Thapa, Curator/Director, Siddhartha Art Gallery;
Tsering Rhitar, Sherpa, Filmmaker; and Uday Sunder Shrestha, Editor,
Spaces magazine.

Arpan Shrestha dreamt of journalism “comforting the afflicted and
afflicting the comforted” by 2020 while Sangeeta Thapa wished to
“renovate Lalit Kala Campus” and “develop Lumbini as an Artistic Hub.”

Manogya Sharma advocated economic freedom and wished for Nepal to be
“bandaa”- and “load shedding”-free while cyclist Shailendra Dangol
imagined “a cycle-friendly, less polluted Nepal in 2020.”

Manushi Yami Bhattarai shared her dream of empowering women, elevating
corruption-free services and developing art, theater and cinema in the
country.

Pecha Kucha draws its name from the Japanese term for the sound of
“chitchat,” and it is a format which was devised in Tokyo, Japan, in
February 2003 as an event for young people to network, meet, show
their work and express ideas in public.

It rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20
images x 20 seconds, where the slides move automatically every 20
seconds.

The format has been developed with the motive of keeping presentations
concise and keep things moving at a rapid pace.

(The first volume of Pecha Kucha in Nepal took place on March 31 this
very year at the Attic Bar, Lazimpat, and the next volume is scheduled
at the same venue next month.)

REPUBLICA (www.myrepublica.com) 

KATHMANDU, June 14: Attic Bar in Lazimpat was packed with crowds ardently supporting the presenters at the third volume of the Pecha Kucha Night in Kathmandu. To provide a platform to share ideas and experiences, creative projects or just any story, Pecha Kucha was held on June 12.

Pecha Kucha draws its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chitchat,” and it’s a format which was devised in Tokyo, Japan, in February 2003 as an event for young people to network, meet, show their work and express ideas in public. It rests on a presentation format that’s based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds, where the slides move automatically every 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise and keep things moving at a rapid pace. The same idea has turned into a massive celebration with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring people worldwide.

Kathmandu saw its first Pecha Kucha Night on March 27 at the same place with the support of the creative duo, Sujan Chitrakar, artist and activist from Kathmandu, and Christ Haughton, illustrator from Ireland.

The third volume brought together more than a dozen young presenters who shared their dreams, stories, experiences and convictions. The first presenters of the night were Nepali Slam poets Nayan Pokhrel and Yukta Bajracharya who talked about Slam poetry. Talking about her experience as one of the presenters for the night, Yukta Bajracharya said, “It was my first time at Pecha Kucha, and it was really fun. The environment was also very casual and relaxed, and I really liked what the other presenters had to say, and found their subjects interesting.” She added that it’s a really nice concept since people get to share their ideas and learn at the same platform.

Another presenter, Pranaya Rana, a student in filmmaking, had the crowd screaming and applauding when he talked about the life of Nepali students in New York and his own experiences as a student there.

The other presenters for the night were Fulbrighter in Tibetan Philosophy Nic Bommarito, columnist Sradda Thapa, writer Prawin Adhikary, social activist Sanam Chitrakar, photographer Maria Magnolia, social activist Ramesh Nakarmi, Fulbrighter in Fashion Designer Bethany Meuleners, student in Art in Education Sharareh Bajracharya, visual artist Binod Shrestha, computer programmer and scuba diver Sam Adalia, interior designer Amar Gurung, and photographer Linka Anne Odom.

Each presenter from different fields expressed his or her ideas and experiences, and the huge crowd at the event supported them by showing the popularity that Pecha Kucha has gained in Kathmandu.

images by sworup ranjit and ramesh maharjan

The poster for vol3 is designed by Shraddha Shrestha, who is currently pursuing Graphic Comm at Kathmandu University.

The idea of a presentation in less than 10 minutes is no doubt an appealing one, particularly for Nepali audiences accustomed to the blather of self-important personages with no respect for their time. Having ranted concisely on this point not so long ago, I was intrigued to hear of but disappointed to miss out on the first edition of Pecha Kucha Kathmandu in Attic Bar. I was happy therefore to be invited to contribute to photo.circle's presentation for the second edition last Saturday.

The format of Pecha Kucha, which is Japanese for 'chit-chat', is 20x20. This means that each presenter – and there are about a dozen per session – gets 20 seconds each for 20 slides, making for precisely 6 minutes 40 seconds. No politely gesturing hosts are needed to discourage over-running, as the presenter has no control over the slides he or she is presenting. The fear of being caught mid-presentation as your 'Thank You' slide beams out to the audience appears to be deterrent enough.

Pecha Kucha began in 2003 in Japan and has now spread to over 260 cities. Kathmandu's second edition took on an 'Inspire Japan' theme and included an incredible range of suitably inspirational stories from artists, journalists, photographers, writers and filmmakers. It was further enlivened by an auction of organiser Sujan Chitrakar and Chirag Bangdel's artworks, the proceeds from which joined with door takes to help fund the building of a school in Japan.

Of course, there are always good presentations and bad presentations. There is the risk of Death by Powerpoint, and inattentive audiences. And the format has unique challenges. It took some doing to squeeze the seven slides I was allotted on the book 'Hamra Hajurama' into photo.circle's presentation – in so many words, to distill my grandmother's three billion seconds of personal history into 140. And then you had American photographer Brian Sokol, who chose to sit in near-total silence as his brooding images of urban Japan cast light and shade on us. "Who'd have thought 20 seconds would be so long," he quipped.

But the inspiration was as much for the Nepalis present as for Japan. While those meant to be doing the most for Nepal stoop ever lower in their bungling, self-absorbed cretinism, to hear someone passionately describing a project that she has poured her creativity and intellect into is to hear the sound of hope. It goes without saying that there are many more Nepalis across the country equally deserving of such a platform to present their ideas to their peers. Pecha Kucha Pokhara's a shoo-in.

www.pecha-kucha.org/night/kathmandu

http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/2011/04/22/Kalam/18138

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Miyuki Tsujii / Yumi KC Japanese Fund Raisers Victoria Kianpour Disaster Risk Manager Ramon Das Shrestha Entrepreneur Om Khatri Artist/Sculptor/Academician Archana Thapa Writer/Scholar Bibek Rajbhandari/Shreya Thapa Journalists Break | (20MINS) .............. Rabindra Puri Restorer Kerry Lucinda Brown Fulbright Scholar Manish Lal Shrestha Artist/Painter Kshitiz Adhiraj Indie Film Maker Kanchan Burathoki Artist / Art Journalist Brian Sokol Photographer Nayantara Gurung Kashyapati / Prawin Adhikari / Rabi Thapa Photographer/Writers