Christchurch is taking part in our Global Cities Week, with its “Cycle-Powered” PechaKucha Night Vol. 13 happening on February 26, and it will be the first outdoor PKN in Christchurch — that week also marks the anniversary of the earthquake that tore through the city last year (February 22). Below, more details on the event from organizer Jessica Halliday.
PechaKucha Night Christchurch 13 is our contribution to PK’s Global Cities Week. Instead of making this a huge event, we’ve scaled it down. There will be seven or eight presentations. Our venue will be as eloquent as any of our speakers on the topic of Christchurch: we’re holding this in association with Gap Filler, piggy-backing on their outdoor cycle cinema project on the former Cycle Trading and Printstop sites on the corner of Manchester St & Dundas St.
Ride along at 8pm and be prepared to do your bit to power this event! The system can’t take knobbly tires, so slip on your slicks and one of our volunteers will help you take a stand. See the Gap Filler website if you want to know more about how it works: www.gapfiller.org.nz
This is the first outdoor PKN in Christchurch, with a bit of uncertainty involved (bad weather, power failure) but that’s perfectly appropriate to the occasion. We can’t promise a high level of comfort and we’re not selling tickets or running a bar like we usually do; you will need to bring your own seating and refreshments. A coffee cart will be on site and Gap Filler will sell a few tasty treats. Entry is by koha and all donations will go to support Gap Filler. If it’s looking like we’ll get rained out, keep your eye out for a postponement notice and we’ll hold it the following day. Huge thanks to the Gap Filler crew for having us.
PechaKucha Night in Christchurch Vol. 12 is taking place tonight (November 18), and here are the wonderful poster and flyer that were created to publicize the event — the design is by Christchurch Art Gallery designer Peter Bray. You’ll find the full list of presenters with links on the official event page. Also, here are a few words from organizer Jessica Halliday:
PKN Vol. 12, which we are presenting with the assistance of the Christchurch Art Gallery this Friday, will take place November 18. The line-up is looking pleasantly eclectic — there are some old friends returning and plenty of people I’ve never met before talking about a wide range of ideas, issues and propositions. Christchurch still being at the beginning of the long journey to recovery, this event is being held in one of the city council’s temporary venues — a geo-dome — Bucky Fuller would be delighted, I’m sure. There’s a bar attached in a mini geo-dome with a few street food stalls offering seafood and Mexican delights. We have all the ingredients for a good PKN!
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Update: PKN Christchurch Vol. 11 has been postponed due to heavy snow warnings. It will instead be held on September 7.
PechaKucha Night in Christchurch Vol. 11 is coming up this Wednesday (August 17) at Telestra Clear Club. You’ll find the full list of presenters with links on the official event page, and here’s more from organizer Jessica Halliday:
We’re getting very excited about our next event. The people of our city continue to face many heartaches, challenges and difficulties — it’s a daily battle in post-earthquake Christchurch. One of the things many of us miss are the array of social and cultural opportunities offered by an urban environment — even one as small as ours. You know the type of thing — immersing yourself in arts and culture, debating the merits of clashing events and happenings, forming part of a crowd of people at a gig, accidental meetings on the street or in a cafe or bar, the freedom offered by widely-shared urban public space. With our central city cordoned off and an estimated 40% of our urban fabric under demolition, we are dispersed across the suburbs and these very ordinary urban experiences have all but evaporated.
Our 11th PechaKucha Night will give us not only a chance to hear and see 11 fascinating presentations but also help provide us with much missed social and cultural contact. We’re delighted to have the support of the Christchurch Arts Festival for PechaKucha Night Christchurch 11 — they are a battler of an organisation that has worked hard to give the city eight weekends of performances and arts events to cheer our hearts despite losing all of their regular venues. Our presenters, unsurprisingly given the current circumstances, weigh a little on the side of architecture and engineering (yes, creative, articulate engineers, we breed ‘em) but it’s still our regular exciting jumble of disciplines and fields. Can’t wait to hear and see what the’ve all got to share with us PechaKucha style.
Also, here are some details on the flyer that was produced for the event:
It’s double sided, so what you see are the two sides side-by-side. We’re mainly using it folded as a flyer concertina style. The design work was a collaborative effort between local designers Matt Galloway and Lizzie Parker (who did our Heavy Metal PKNCHCH8 posters last year). Matt printed it on a risograph at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts.
We’d previously posted about Christchurch’s involvement in the Global PechaKucha Day – Inspire Japan event, and now here’s a look at the poster for the event, which is also the city’s Vol. 10, and purposely stark — as organizer Vanessa Coxhead told us, it’s “easy to print and get out with most of the central city still shut down, and the X is a great stand in for so many things here as well as our ‘tenth event.’” Please note also that the venue has changed, and will now take place at the CPSA Building’s CPIT on Madras Street. We’re including the full press release.
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Although the focus of our upcoming Global PechaKucha Day – Inspire Japan fundraiser, we have not forgotten our friends in Christchurch, and we are very happy to announce that PKN Christchurch organizer Vanessa Coxhead and her team will be kicking off the whole event. We include here a press release from Vanessa that details the Christchurch event.
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If you’re wondering where you can make donations to help with the aid and reconstruction efforts due to this latest earthquake to hit the Canterbury area (and Christchurch in particular), your best bet appears to be the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal, and you can donate in the following manner:
- Make a secure online donation here (the site appears to be overloaded at the moment, but keep trying)
- Make an automatic $20 donation by phoning 0900-33-200
Big thanks to PKN Christchurch organizer Vanessa Coxhead for sharing this.
We’re posting the following message we received from PechaKucha Night in Christchurch organizer Vanessa Coxhead, to reassure any friends or family who have been trying to get in touch with her. We were certainly relieved to hear that she was safe and sound.
Thanks for all the kind messages via email over the past 24 hours… it’s been a very surreal experience but Jessica and I are safe. As are the people we work with. I haven’t heard from Richard yet but I hope he is fine with his family… Richard… let us know when you can.
At this stage there’s not too much that we can do. We are staying with family, staying aware and keeping occupied as much as we can waiting for notification of anything we can do once search and rescue have completed the task at hand. We were in the central city when the quake hit and got out of there as soon as we could. We will keep people updated… Facebook has been a great tool for communicating en masse that so feel free to ‘friend’ me!
You’ll be seeing the news coverage and the wonderful work that many brave people are doing in the city so let’s hope that we receive positive news as the day starts to end. This is probably the best way to keep updated on the situation.
Any help that can be offered in due course will be greatly accepted so we’ll keep in touch. For now, communication is the key so let’s do what we’re good at!
Lots of love
Vanessa, Jess and all those you know in Christchurch
Update: And please see this post for info on where you can send donations for aid and reconstruction efforts in Christchurch.
