I’m sitting here on Rosh Hashana at the neighbourhood coffee shop located across the street from a synagogue on Bathurst Street which was described to me a few weeks ago as the “Gaza Strip in Toronto.” I don’t know what Rosh Hashana is, but I got a day off from classes because of this holiday so I suspect it’s important. Plus, many of the people here at the coffee shop are dressed in a manner that suggests it’s an important day (knee length black skirts, tailored white blouses, babies with bows taped to their head). 

So far, this coffee shop is my favourite place in the city because I get to listen to people’s conversations about:

“are you crazy? She’s a 30 year old girl and he’s a 40 year old man! No! She doesn’t want to go out with him!”

“Are you two twins? No? Sisters? You have a twin though, right? You married a twin?”

“If he fuckin’ doesn’t rock this interview…”

I really do enjoy engaging in aural voyeurism. Sometimes the people speak in Russian (at least I think that’s what it is because it sounds Russian) or Hebrew (or what I imagine is Hebrew), and then I’m forced to imagine what they’re saying. Someone just walked in with a black pirate-esque eye patch covering his left eye. Very mysterious.

Designers, architects, art activists & creators come together to show 20 images, 20 seconds each = 6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame around the globe.

Pecha Kucha Night, which is Japanese for the sound of conversation, was created by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytha in Tokyo. This night is all about the sound of conversation – a dialogue between and about up-and-coming local artists & designers.

The concept of Pecha Kucha is unique and refreshing – conversations with new, fringe or established artists and designers who may not get an opportunity to present their work or views in public.

My sister and I attended the second Pecha Kucha in Vancouver, Volume Two, at the Vancouver Museum a couple of weeks ago, and my most immediate impression was that I was not dressed as trendy or fashionable as a I should have been. The artsy crowd was intimidating, mostly because I’m more of a wannabe artsy person than a real one.

There were two theatres to experience Pecha Kucha – the real one on the lower level of the museum, and the makeshift one that was created in a large room on the main floor. The images and conversations from the main theatre were projected onto the wall in the upstairs pseudo theatre where my sister and I found ourselves, sitting on the hard carpeted floor eating pretzels with about a hundred other people.

The night began with an inspiring presentation by Vanessa Richards, an activist artist who promotes the concept of local, organic arts & culture. While it seemed abstract, her comparison of arts & culture with organic food made sense – there’s a need to develop arts & culture in a similar way that the organic food industry has grown. Nurture it. Develop it. Value it. Love it. Because as Richards put it, “art makes us fall in love with each other.”

I also enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek pecha kucha by the Vancouver Design Nerds and their presentation of Cube 3 – the next step for real estate in Vancouver’s over-priced market.

A lovely person from Blim, a community art resource centre on Main Street, said something which I think will remain a challenge in Vancouver and across Canada, the world? – the need to include the working class artist. Pecha Kucha may be an outlet for this, maybe not depending on how the concept grows.

Of the twenty or so presentations, the most disappointing was by famed shoe architect John Fluevog. I continue to covet a pair of his structural, feminine pieces and was very sad when all the size 8 shoes at the sample sale were sold by the time I reached his Granville Street boutique. Fluevog spent his 6 minutes and 40 seconds talking about small cars, his collection and his deep love of all tiny vehicles. I kept waiting for the next slide to be of an amazing creative shoe, but…sigh…no such luck.

Keep an eye out for the next installment of Pecha Kucha coming in Fall 2008 at www.pecha-kucha.org, where you can also find other Pecha Kucha Nights around the world (there are over 100 cities involved out there).

Sites of note: www.thisisit.ca, www.pricetags.ca, www.modernurbanguides.com, www.blim.ca, www.designnerds.ca.

Naveen and I had the Shiraz tea made with Chinese black tea and tasted of peaches and happiness. It would be better enjoyed without milk, although we appreciated the steamed milk served with our tea (which reminded me of my first encounter with French tea at Paul’s in Paris. When I asked for milk with my vanilla black tea, they gave me a tiny vessel with steamed milk).

For a relaxing cup of tea or espresso, scones, cake, window shopping and relaxing with a friend, visit Farfalla at 57 Cordova East.