The Burnside Blog

Posted By Mike Thelin on 08/11/2008

Haven’t been to Pecha Kucha yet? Here’s wnat you need to know: Pecha Kucha affords a medium to the likes of architects, artists, educators and graphic designers to present work or discuss their passion using 20 slides for 20 seconds each for a total of six minutes and 40 seconds. That means we the viewers may enjoy our free beer (leave a tip) while learning all about the work of Portlanders, who have in the first three Pecha Kucha events, been consistently entertaining and occasionally hilarious. Sure, there has been a dud or two. It happens. But the beauty of Pecha Kucha’s svelte format prevents the unwanted longwindedness of any one presenter from spoiling your evening of free beer and attractive slides. If you’re bored, don’t sweat it. It will be over in less than seven minutes.

Pecha Kucha means “the sound of conversation” in Japanese, and presenters this week include Designer Greg Barton, Art Institute Professor Severin “Hulk” Villiger, and Portland Mercury Contributor Chas Bowie.

The event is hosted by cityscope, an architectural and urban studies idea lab sponsored by Works Partnership Architecture. The event starts at 8:20 pm at 34 NW 8th Avenue. That’s 8th and Couch.

It’s always good to arrive early for popular events like Pecha Kucha, but there’s another design-related event I plan to attend Tuesday night. Path Architecture and the Kaiser Group will host an open house for their recently completed Williams FIVE Condominiums, which I featured on the Burnside Blog just last week. That event commences at 6pm at Williams Five (5224 North Williams). The event will include the display of ten paintings by Bulgarian Artist Dimitrina Bakurdjieva inspired by Williams FIVE.