"Pecha-Kucha" is a Japanese phrase that means "the sound of conversation."
"Pecha-Kucha Night" is a series of artistic and architectural showcases taking place in various cities around the world over the next six weeks, with Buffalo having its first Pecha-Kucha Night this past Saturday.
Originally, conceived by architects in Tokyo, Pecha-Kucha Night began in three years ago as a simple method for young designers to meet, network, and showcase their works in public, quickly becoming a world phenomenon.
Nick Bruscia, one of the organizers of Pecha-Kucha Night Buffalo, said that organizers were determined to allow aspiring area architects to display their work for the community.
"This showcase is something in which we have been trying to get in Buffalo since its inception in 2003," Bruscia said.
Pecha-Kucha Night Buffalo was held in downtown arts venue SOUNDLAB on Pearl St., which was filled to maximum capacity.
"The setup also allows us to present many artists in a relatively short period of time. Each presenter is allowed 20 images - each shown for 20 seconds or less - giving them roughly seven minutes of fame before the next presenter is up."
The presentations themselves were presented in a slide show format, with each designer narrating their own work, which ranged from diagrams of a newly finished building to pieces of furniture, some even evolving into elaborate stories being told from the perspective of figures of origami.
The crowd was composed of architectural and artistic aficionados of the area as well as many members of the student population eager to see what their peers were presenting.
"I was very surprised at the level of professionalism these students have shown throughout all of the presentations," said Alex Teller, senior media studies major. "A lot of the work I've seen tonight correlates very much so with the projects I am dealing with in my major."
Jared Clark, senior business management major, said that the show exceeded his expectations.
"The presenters did an excellent job of keeping the audience enthralled relating the subject matter to the crowd," Clark said.
Along with the guests of Pecha-Kucha Night, presenters believed that the show went as well as it possibly could have.
"I was very happy with the way my presentation turned out," said Seth Amman, a junior architecture major, whose presentation consisted of a fairy tail acted out by structural forms of a building he was designing. "I was actually surprised to see it so well received, given how obscure the whole thing was."
Over the next six weeks, Pecha-Kucha Night will take place in nearly two-dozen cities in five different continents, and Buffalonians and architecture enthusiasts alike are ecstatic that the Queen City has finally held its first showcase.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
