Totally Dublin is delighted to announce it will be teaming up with our pals at the Irish Architecture Foundation for four awesome Pecha Kucha events this year. Since its first edition in 2003, Pecha Kucha nights have invited thousands of people from the worlds of design, creativity and pretty much any line of work that that involves ingenuity to speak at over 700 stages across the world.
The set-up is simple: each presenter is allowed 20 images, and 20 seconds to explain their work through each one. If you’ve ever been to an Offset or Web Summit talk, you’ll know well the perils of giving a person a microphone and a Powerpoint presentation. Pecha Kucha cuts through the small talk to get right to the heart of what its truly fascinating speakers do, think, feel.
You’re sold, right? Great. We’ll be hosting our first event on the Wednesday 22nd April in Dublin’s Grand Social. For just a fiver, you’ll be getting a smattering of quick-fire talks from botanists, activists, artists, architects, designers and directors from all walks of life – and a free bottle of Peroni to wash it all down with.
Of course we’ve some tickets up for grabs: All you have to do is grab this image and tweet using #PechaKuchaDublin by April 20th and the winners picked at random will receive a pair of tickets each.
Our kindly host for the night will be Zero-G Studio’s Ciarán Ó Gaora. Your evening of orators will feature:
abgc is a Dublin design duo. Designing buildings, interiors, furniture, objects and systems, their diverse practise has evolved by maintaining a balance between client services and self directed work.
Anne Bedos is a social entrepreneur. Her passion for cycling and community development merged to form Rothar, a volunteer-run organisation for bicycle enthusiasts which operates bike shops and workshops across the city, as well as a café on Fade Street.
Concrete Collar is a creative initiative by two graduate architects, Becky Wallace and Ciana March. What began as a blog showcasing the work of independent fashion designers in the context of Irish architecture, has grown to encompass art direction, styling and photography. Now in its third year, Becky and Ciana are working with like-minded brands in the fields of fashion, product design and film.
Broden Giambrone is the Chief Executive of Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI). He is a passionate advocate for transgender rights and has been an activists for 15 years in Ireland and Canada. Broden is currently leading TENI’s campaign for inclusive gender recognition legislation. He is a firm believer in education as the only way to change the hearts and minds of society to be a more open and inclusive place for all people.
Michael Hayes is the editor of 2ha – a magazine interested in the suburbs. He is an editorial board member of Architecture Ireland and Publications Officer for the Architectural Association of Ireland. Michael is an architect living and practising in Dublin.
Matthew Jebb is a botanist who has worked at the National Botanic Gardens for 18 years and has been director for the past 4 years. Matthew trained as a taxonomist at Oxford University where he completed his first degree in botany and then lived for six years in Papua New Guinea where he managed a research station and was involved in many collecting expeditions and the naming of numerous species new to science. He has published papers on a wide range of disciplines including climate change, coral reef ecology, wasp breeding behaviour, solenogaster molluscs, biogenic tufa dams and photoinhibition. He is endlessly fascinated by the fact that, whilst plants are the most important organisms on the planet, they remain essentially invisible to urbanised humans.
Alex Milton is an academic, author, curator and designer. He is the Programme Director of Irish Design 2015, a major government initiative that seeks to increase the awareness, understanding and use of design in Irish society and industry. He is a visiting professor at the National College of Art and Design, Ireland and Aston University, UK and his books include ‘Product Design’ and ‘Research Methods for Product Design’.
Naoise Nunn lives in Kilkenny where he is artistic director of the Sky Cat Laughs Comedy Festival and programme director of the Kilkenomics festival of economics. He is the founder of the MindField spoken word arena at Electric Picnic and the Leviathan series of political cabaret events. He managed the Apres Match comedy trio between 2000 and 2006 and was line producer of the first production of the hit musical, I, Keano.
Colm O’Gorman is a leading social justice commentator, director of Amnesty International Ireland and founder of One In Four Ireland.
Rosie O’Reilly is creative director of ethical fashion organisation Re-Dress (responsible for Better Fashion Week), designer at sustainable, innovative fashion label We Are Islanders and a visual artist, maker and designer who has exhibited at Science Gallery Dublin, Museum of Contemporary Art Dublin, Dublin Fringe. She has been artist-in-residence at Gijon’s LABoral.
Studio Red Architects believes in the power and value of considered design for projects of all shapes and sizes. Made up of Gráinne Dunne, Nicola Ryan and Shane Coyle, Studio Red were winners of an Irish Architecture Award 2014.
