Pecha Kucha Night Plzeň: Volume 6

Plzeň will host the world-renowned format of inspirational evenings, PechaKucha Night, for the sixth time. Ten interesting personalities will come together at one place to present their projects, work, or ideas to a broad audience. All of this takes place in the set format of 20 x 20, meaning 20 seconds for each of the 20 slides in the presentation.

The PechaKucha in Plzeň is specific in that it carefully selects the locations where it takes place. “These are always places that are not normally accessible to the public,” explains the main project leader, architect Jitka Jirásková. “This way, we managed to make places such as the Municipal Baths, the Sokolovna, or the Elektra cinema accessible for at least one evening,” she adds.

The sixth evening will take place on September 20 at 20:20 in the spaces of the Plzeň Paper Factory. Tickets will be on sale at the venue from 19:00.

“This time, successful designers Jan Plecháč and Henry Wielgus, the best medallist in the world Otakar Dušek, and architect Antonín Novák / D.R.N.H will present. Additionally, representatives from the project Cinema Royal will showcase mysterious projections of well-known films, which are always somewhat of a struggle. Also participating are the creative cooperative Skleník and guerrilla gardener Vojen Smíšek, who is dedicated to guerilla gardening and enhancing public greenery,” lists Jitka Jirásková.

Previous evenings featured photographer Bet Orten, who won the Czech Grand Design Award last year, video artist Marek Ther, who received the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, the controversial group Ztohoven, designers from Concern Design Studio, Matěj Petránek with his Prazelenina, and others.

Shared goal with EHMK Plzeň 2015
The event in Plzeň is supported by the European Capital of Culture. “We like the idea of the PechaKucha Night Plzeň organizers to awaken locations that used to be part of the everyday life of the people of Plzeň but are now somewhat on the periphery of public interest. Searching for such spaces and utilizing them for culture is a shared interest of the association for the world and Plzeň 2015. Furthermore, we are pleased that during this night our colleague Ondřej Kašpárek will present one of our pivotal projects, the crowdfunding platform Everfund. Just like PechaKucha Night supports talents by providing them a space for presentation, our Everfund will also give them the opportunity to acquire funding for their project. The program of Plzeň 2015 will also be presented thanks to the Cinema Royal project, with which we have established cooperation and want to bring it to Plzeň soon,” suggests Jiří Sulženko, director of the European Capital of Culture 2015 project.

CrossCafe – a place for the growth of ideas
“The company CrossCafe has always strived to support people who create, experiment, or engage in something interesting. The very design of CrossCafe cafes provides visitors with a free space where they can engage in whatever they want. Wi-Fi is available, and there are no waiters. Guests are not disturbed and can sit as long as they wish. This is where various ideas or creations can arise,” explains marketing manager of CrossCafe, Petr Juppa. “The PechaKucha Night project seems to us a great opportunity to share ideas that may have partially originated in CrossCafe cafes with other people. We support brave individuals with their own ideas or projects that they are willing to implement. CrossCafe cafes want to be active partners of cultural and civic society in the places where they operate. We provide the PechaKucha project primarily with communication regarding the event, reaching out to our customers. We firmly believe that this will help expand information about the interesting evening and the opportunity to present one's thoughts or ideas,” adds Petr Juppa.

The PechaKucha Night format originated in early 2003 in Tokyo. It was first proposed by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham. Today, PechaKucha Night takes place in 866 cities around the world.

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