PechaKucha Night gets some nice coverage in the June issue of Culture Magazine -- love that 2-page spread! The magazine can be viewed online, with the article appearing on pages 54-55 (108-109 in the viewer).

Today's "Presentation of the Day" will have you standing on your head and spitting nickels (or, maybe just the standing-on-your-head part).  Chris Kirkland runs an art-related online business (Art Web) here in Tokyo, but even more interesting are the gravity-defying poses that he tends to strike when he's out and about -- and we're talking out and about on a global level. You won't have to invert your body to view his presentation from PKN Tokyo Vol. 90, which is aptly titled "Headstanding", so have a look.   

Next week's PKN Stockholm Vol. 38 is not just any old PechaKucha Night. Not only will it feature an international lineup with design talent from all over coming to do presentations, but it will also feature none other than PechaKucha co-founder Mark Dytham, who will MC the event (as well as present).

  By Susan Schaefer  I’ll admit I’m a culture junkie who until June 20, 2009 found the culture seen in Maastricht, well – politely boring, lacking an edge. Plenty of highbrow art and culture but not much of what I call ‘smart brow’ – that place where edgy meets elite. I have a confession – I am a culture junkie with a string of arts and culture leadership in my pedigree: I am the founding publisher, editor and reporter of the South Street Star, the first arts and culture weekly newspaper to cover the hot and happenin’ SoHo scene in my hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, where I also founded the Club Bay-Root, an original act nightclub, edited of the first ‘What’s Happening’ art and culture listings pages for New York newspaper, the Aquarian Weekly, and founded of the first women’s poetry festival while fronting my own poetry troupe, the Star Bards (we had a fan following well before poetry had ‘slams’!). Later, as the chair of the public policy committee for the Greater Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce in Minnesota, I founded the first ever business task force to study the impact of the creative class on our city. I’ve lived in Maastricht for the past five years and have been concerned with the strength of the city’s bid for European Capital of Culture city in 2018. Ah, but then a friend took me to a Pecha Kucha night and Maastricht and its surrounding “Euroregion” area shone as a wholly new sphere in my celestial imagination. It’s not that Maastricht invented this night. Far from it. Pecha Kucha Night was born in Japan 2003 as a place for designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Pecha Kucha, Japanese for the sound of conversation, is a fast paced, entertaining and informative format now running in 210 cities world wide, allowing each presenter 20 images at 20 seconds each (totaling 6 minutes and 40 seconds) to present original thought, ideas, concepts, and the like. Some presenters are literally ‘pitching’ their wares (rather than finding a gallery or the like to showcase them) while others intend to shock, stimulate or entertain. No matter the goal, the design and pace of this evening truly arouses passion. The hosts, of Pecha Kucha Maastricht: Pierre Buijs, Martijn Kagenaar and Jean-Paul Toonen have put their individual spin on this international event by filming and streaming the video on their own website. The presence of a multi-media crew adds a dash of panache and credibility to the event. With the brass ring of capturing the honor of hosting Europe’s Capital of Culture in mind, Pecha Kucha Maastricht features the artists, designers, performers, thinkers and tinkers who defy the city’s more staid image. For me, it revealed an intriguing sub-cultural literati from the too often unseen Maastricht cultural scene. Bravo! To learn more about the Speakers from June 20th simply click onto their website . My personal favorites from June 20th were the soft spoken but deeply sincere Jeroen Vinken, Art upon Fabrics, Lonneke ten Hooven,Food Seduction, a culinary poet, and space cadet, William Willems, whose Flower Bombing stole the show. See for yourself why Maastricht may indeed come up roses for its cultural quest. by Susan SchaeferSchaefer Communications, LLC   Photo: Audience, Pecha Kucha Maastricht (Photo: courtesy of Bert Janssen Photography (Maastricht)

Welding, cutting, bending, sand-blasting, polishing, Sjors van Buyten does it all; and in this edition of Presentation of the Day (from PKN Hong Kong Vol. 14) he elaborates on the pieces he's crafted from found objects. Sjors works primarily with metals, wood, and light -- and the results are often electrifying.

PechaKucha Night Istanbul Special Event amberFest'13 ( technology and digital art festival)  was held on November 1 at Roxy Club in Istanbul. So many guests and speakers came all around world for this special EU festival. on the stage, they were telling about their projects and works about technology, art and digital culture. Here is the some presenters details and photos links. And videos are coming soon! Please check the photos on  :  http://www.flickr.com/photos/44542090@N08/sets/72157637836744215/ Susa Pop- Public Art Lab and Connecting  Cities Susa's project was about connection with festival cities on public street with Outdoor LEDs  Martin Brysnkov Life Between Systems   He spoke about how difficult it is for people who build technical systems for cities  to  predict what kind of life that people will live between those systems. Hideaki Ogawa - Ars Electronica Futurelab as Creative Catalysts Hideaki's project is known as a simple and consecutive interaction design combined digital technologies and analog technologies.  Mahir Yavuz- United Colors of Dissent   He was talking  about his project with Orkan Telhan entitled United Colors of Dissent Yılmaz Kıymaz-  A Growing Indie Community in Turkey He is independent game developer and GDT ( Game Development Turkey) admin, will talk about the GDT community and the game jam that will be organized as part of AMBER  

A while ago, someone told Ahmed Hassan that he needed therapy, so he bought a motorcycle. Now his therapy sessions consist of drives through the countryside where he discovers the beauty and art in rusted treasures. Lucky for us, he carries a camera. In "Garage Art" from a special Archex Session edition of PKN Williamsburg, Ahmed delves into the world as seen through his lens, as well as the on-the-road culture of freedom it embodies. 

“I’ve really become interested in doing custom toy shows and donating the money to good causes.” Figure and toy expert Don Kratzer speaks on Indie Toy Custom Culture. In “Custom Character Culture for Causes” from PKN Tokyo Vol. 117, Don discusses the discrepancies and crossovers between creators, characters, and figures, as well as goes into depth on the custom figure culture.

"This is one of the most dangerous festivals in the world! You must join!"In Tainan's Design Culture from Pechakucha Night Tokyo Vol. 123, Leslie Tsai talks about the wonderful culture of Taiwan. He encourages many people to visit this great country with its many different customs and art.

"When God was giving out the land to people, the Armenians were partying and got there late, and all that was left was the land of stones."In A Glimpse of Armenian Culture from PechaKucha night Townsville Vol. 10, Philippa Johnson shares her great love for international folk dancing, of which she is both a student and a teacher in Townsville. She tells some tales of her latest overseas dance workshop which took her to the strikingly beautiful South Caucasus region and heritage-rich nation of Armenia.